Press Releases

FEB 23, 2005 - Free Waste-free Lunch Pamphlet Now Available Online

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact: Amy Hemmert Obentec, Inc. (831) 457-0301 (phone) (831) 430-0302 (fax) amy@obentec.com

Free Waste-free Lunch Pamphlet Now Available Online

 

Santa Cruz, Calif. - February 23, 2005 - Today Obentec, Inc. (www.obentec.com), announced the availability of its new waste-free lunch pamphlet, "The Waste-free Lunchbox," available to the general public for free download at www.wastefreelunches.org. The pamphet provides parents, teachers, school administrators, and others with essential waste-free lunch information.

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, a child packing a disposable lunch to school will leave behind approximately 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 1.2 billion pounds of annual lunch waste for the more than 64,000 U.S. public elementary schools alone!

As landfills across North America reach capacity, new landfills are created farther from where the trash is generated, leading to higher waste disposal fees, increased truck traffic and fossil fuel use, more pollution, and greater wear and tear on roads.

To reduce the amount of waste headed for the landfill, schools have started implementing waste-free lunch programs aimed not only at reducing landfill waste, but also at teaching children the importance of resource conservation and helping schools save money by reducing their waste hauling fees.

"Many parents pack prepackaged lunch items without realizing the environmental and economic impact," says Obentec cofounder, Tammy Pelstring. "We created the "Waste-free Lunchbox" so parents can easily understand why and how to make changes that will have a profound impact on the planet, their children, and their pocketbook."

Packing waste-free lunches is easy once you make it part of your daily routine. All you need is a lunchbox, backpack or briefcase, a set of reusable containers, a refillable water bottle, a cloth napkin, and a set of reusable utensils. Or, for a few extra dollars, you can purchase Obentec's waste-free lunch kit, which includes all of the above.

 

"The Laptop Lunchbox" offers the following tips for reducing lunch waste:

• Pack lunches in the evening and store them in the refrigerator overnight.
• Maximize leftovers. Prepare extra servings for dinner, and pack the leftovers into lunchboxes in the evening while you're cleaning up.
• Stock your kitchen with fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other nutritious foods.
• Keep nuts and dried fruit on hand.
• Buy from bulk bins to reduce costs.
• Buy from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program or farmers' market. Visit www.localharvest.org for CSA and farmers' market locations near you.
• Write your name on all your containers before leaving the house.

Packing a waste-free lunch not only reduces landfill waste, but it costs less too. A child taking a prepackaged lunch to school spends an average of $4.02 a day or $723.60 per school year compared to $2.65 a day ($477.00 per school year) for a child who packs a waste-free lunch--a difference of $246.60 per person per year!

And that's not all. When families pack disposable lunches, schools pay higher waste removal fees. Since fees are based on volume, schools that generate more waste, pay more to have it hauled away. Packing a waste-free lunch reduces the volume of trash and thus helps schools save money. After all, if everyone in the U.S. packed a waste-free lunch, 1.2 billion pounds of lunch waste would be diverted from the waste stream. That's a lot of trash, and that translates into huge savings for our families and our nation's schools.

High-resolution images are available for download at www.laptoplunches.com/images.html. For more information, contact Amy Hemmert.