From the classroom

Keep Australia Beautiful Week 

As part of Keep Australia Beautiful Week (Monday 3 August – Sunday 9 August), Rochester Primary School will once again be holding our annual Nude Food Lunchbox Challenge.

For more than 50 years, Keep Australia Beautiful has encouraged Australians to "Do the Right Thing – Keep Australia Beautiful" by reducing litter, cutting down on waste and caring for our environment. This year's campaign reminds us that "When you're out and about... leave only your footprints."

At Rochester Primary School, we're supporting this important message by encouraging students to reduce the amount of disposable packaging in their lunchboxes. By choosing reusable containers, lunchboxes and drink bottles wherever possible, we can all help reduce waste and make a positive difference to our school and our community.

How does it work?

Each day, students will count the pieces of rubbish in their lunchboxes. This includes items such as plastic wrappers, cling wrap, foil, yoghurt pouches, chip packets and other disposable packaging.

Every piece of rubbish is added to the class total. Students who have zero pieces of rubbish at the end of lunch will go into the daily prize draw. At the end of the week, the class with the lowest total amount of rubbish will win a hot chip lunch.

There are also some fantastic individual prizes to be won throughout the week, including IGA vouchers, lunchboxes, drink bottles and reusable food containers.

What is a nude food lunch?

A nude food lunch simply means packing food without unnecessary disposable packaging.

Some easy ideas include sandwiches or wraps in a reusable container, fruit and vegetables packed loose or in containers, homemade snacks in reusable containers, biscuits, cheese or popcorn packed in reusable tubs, and a refillable drink bottle instead of a juice box.

Every little bit helps

We understand that packing a completely nude food lunch isn't always possible, and that's okay. The aim of this challenge is to encourage everyone to make small, achievable changes that reduce waste and help care for our environment.

Together, let's Do the Right Thing and remember that when we're out and about... we leave only our footprints.

Thank you for supporting this whole-school initiative.

Phil Carroll