School Cafeterias Make the Move from Polystyrene Trays to Compostable Plates
When we talk about school lunches, we often talk about the food and not what it's actually served on. But in an effort to be more sustainable on several levels, the Urban School Food Alliance (a coalition of the largest school districts in the country that includes Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, and Dallas) announced that it will start phasing out traditional polystyrene trays in favor of round compostable plates.
Why round? The Alliance claims it will help simulate a more familiar eating environment, allowing students to dine at school the way they do at home by replacing the institutional rectangular lunch tray.
By switching to compostable plates, the six school districts (which serve more than 2.5 million meals per day) project to remove 225 million polystyrene trays from landfills every year.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental organization and nonprofit partner of the Alliance:
These cities are teaching kids that sustainability and smarter choices can be integrated into every part of your daily life — even your lunch. Shifting from polystyrene trays to compostable plates will allow these cities to dramatically slash waste sent to landfills, reduce plastics pollution in our communities and oceans, and create valuable compost that can be re-used on our farms. We are proud to work with a group of school systems dedicated to driving landmark changes in the health and sustainability of school food.
The FDA-approved, American-made, molded fiber compostable plate is produced from pre-consumer recycled newsprint. Though similar compostable plates are considerably more expensive than their polystyrene counterparts, averaging $0.12 each versus $0.04 for the typical lunch tray, the school districts were able to leverage their collective purchasing power to create a custom plate at a more affordable $0.049 apiece.
The innovative design prevents hinging or bending and features five compartments, with a beverage compartment in the middle of the plate to balance the weight of a full meal.
For the 2015-2016 school year, the Alliance also plans to work toward purchasing compostable cutlery in more "natural" shapes to replace the plastic sporks that students find cumbersome to use.