Sustainables News

Wrapper Free Lunch Days

We are beginning to "up" our Sustainability program here at SPS and we have started by introducing Wrapper Free Wednesdays. 

We are encouraging all students to come to school with their food in containers rather than plastic wrappers.  Our Sustainables leaders will be collecting the wrappers from each class to determine which class is the best at being wrapper free.

What is’ Wrapper Free’ Food?

Wrapper Free Food is food without excess packaging. It is food that comes to school without disposable packaging such as extra plastic bags, paper bags, wrappings or cling wraps.

We encourage you to package snacks and lunches in durable, reusable containers. They are a great way to bring food and keep it fresh, promote healthy eating, provide long-term cost savings and environmental benefits with reduced packing and waste.

The benefits of packing a ‘wrapper free’ lunch every day:

Improve Your Child’s Nutrition: With a third of children’s daily diet being consumed at school, the food in their lunch box needs to provide optimal nutrition, laying the foundation for a lifetime of good eating and good health.

Creating waste-free snacks and lunches reduces the consumption of packaged, processed foods and increases the intake of fresh, whole foods. Compared to fresh foods, pre-packaged food often contains more kilojoules, fat, salt and sugar. Avoiding those quick, pre-packaged snacks reduces waste and ensures better nutrition for your child.

Reduce Landfill: Australia is the second-highest producer of waste per person in the western world! School lunches are contributing to this, with the average lunch-toting child generating around 30kg of litter a year. You can do your bit to reduce this by packing a school lunch without including any unnecessary packaging, yoghurt suckers, small tubs, zip-lock bags, paper bags or cling wrap.

By reducing the amount of excess packaging this will reduce the amount of waste that needs to go in bins to be sent to landfill.

Save Money: Avoiding pre-packaged foods and buying foods in bulk can save time and money. Even better, a home-made carrot and apple muffin/frittata/muesli slice will have a much greater nutrient value AND you can control the amount of sugar used, avoiding preservatives and additives completely.

By making your own lunchbox goodies, you can then purchase the raw ingredients in bulk too – instead of buying a 6-pack of yoghurts, purchase a large tub and make up individual, leak proof containers for lunch.