SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--Shocked by the amount of waste generated by their children's lunches, two California moms decided to do something about it. They ended up packing their children's lunches, and now they want to do the same for consumers, too.

Failing in a quest to find the perfect lunch box, Tammy Pelstring and Amy Hemmert created their own, based on the traditional Japanese bento box. The result is a patented line called Laptop Lunches, which Pelstring and Hemmert market through Obentec, a company they founded together in 2002.

Laptop Lunches are modeled after the Japanese bento box.

Bento boxes offer compartments for different foods, Pelstring said, but the traditional bento boxes weren't roomy enough for hearty American cuisine.

We liked the idea of compartments, but the Japanese bento boxes don't accommodate American food like sandwiches, soups, and yogurts," she said.

While packing your own lunch means moms can make sure kids bring wholesome meals to school, even more important to the Laptop Lunch marketing plan is that disposable packaging is expensive because schools spend a lot of money hauling lunch waste to landfills.

Pelstring and Hemmert estimate that families that use reusable containers and flatware, instead of buying disposable lunches, can save about $230 per person per school year. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation estimates that bringing a waste-free lunch will eliminate nearly 70 pounds of garbage per student from the waste stream annually.

That's a big market, Hemmert pointed out. "There are about 64,000 public elementary schools in the U.S., and that number doesn't include private schools or high schools," she said.

As part of their marketing effort, Pelstring and Hemmert have sought to educate their customer base by spearheading wastefreelunches.org, a Web site that provides information on how consumers can start a waste-free lunch program at both school and work.

In fact, Pelstring said adults are becoming an add-on market for Obentec. "A lot of people want to eat healthier and are taking their lunches to work," she said. "We've had so many customers write in saying, 'I got this for my kid, and I and one for myself.'" To meet demand, Pelstring added, the company is now working on a larger version of the Laptop Lunch set for grownups.

Obentec has maintained its goal of a 30 percent revenue growth rate since the company started up, Pelstring said, and this fall it's coming out with new Laptop Lunch colors in addition to developing the product line for adults.

The Laptop Lunch containers retail for about $34, but individual components can be purchased for less. The containers feature a hinged outer container, four inner containers, a dip container and a set of utensils. The insulated carrying case resembles a laptop computer bag.