Waste not

How students at Medicine Hat’s St. Francis Xavier School, discovered what’s coming in and going out of their lunches.

The Grade 4 Class at St. Francis Xavier School in Medicine Hat was on a mission.  For a science project beginning last fall, they set out to discover just how much garbage was being thrown into bins during lunch. What they discovered changed their minds about what they ate…and the kind of trash it creates.

The project, entitled ‘Waste Watcher’, is a required part of Alberta’s education program in conjunction with the province’s Ministry of Environment.

Neal Siedlecki, Grade 4 teacher and project manager, says the goal was to make students aware of the three Rs when it comes to trash at lunchtime.  “Our first step was to guess which types of trash might be thrown away during lunch,” he says. “The next day at noon, four groups of students were divided up and sent to assigned classrooms to monitor waste being trashed by students from Kindergarten to Grade 6.”

After all the numbers were tallied, Siedlecki says each group then had to come up with five ways in which students could improve their waste management skills. Finally, that group had to create a PowerPoint or HyperStudio project, which was presented to each respective class they monitored.

“As a group, we found the most disposed item is plastic food wrappers of some kind,” says Siedlecki. “Nearly every student in the school will throw something away at lunch. We were even surprised to discover most students don’t eat all of their lunch and throw something away before taking it back home.”

Teaching and learning the three Rs

On a brighter note, the students also noticed there was a large number of kids who use reusable items like plastic containers for juice, snacks and sandwiches. So what did they learn from all this?

“Students came away with better ways to reduce the need for extra packaging. For the teachers, the study reinforced just how important it is to teach and encourage our students to recycle, reuse and reduce.” Students and teachers weren’t the only ones who benefited from the project. Siedlecki states parents were quickly brought around to the dos and don’ts of packing lunches.

“In today’s busy world where both parents are working, convenience and time are deciding factors when it comes to making lunches for kids,” he says. “It’s quicker and easier to throw a pizza pop, yogurt, granola bar and a juice box or can of pop into a lunch bag. These foods all have some kind of packaging that will be thrown away.”

Siedlecki and his students suggest parents should take the time and plan lunches along with their kids, although that might not necessarily appeal to the parents who like to monitor the types of food that goes into the bag.

“Some students say their parents decide for them because they feel their child will choose too much junk food. They would like to have more treats like chocolate bars, chips, Jell-O and ice cream but also stated they actually enjoy stuff like veggies and dip and fresh fruit every day.”

Leftovers? No thanks.

When students were asked how parents can make lunches more exciting and tastier, they didn’t hesitate to mention the popular food items like pizza slices, Pizza Pops and take out foods. Surprisingly, they also want to see more hot lunches like soup and pasta and positively NO leftovers.

According to Julie Lacasse, dietiary consultant with Medicine Hat Regional Hosptial, routine can make lunch boring and often uneaten. Here are some of her ideas for creating a fun, healthful lunch:

• Plan ahead and get suggestions from your kids about what they will eat and always allow some time for you and your child to prepare lunches together.
• Have a good selection of real fruit and vegetable juices, nuts, dry fruits, cheeses, fruit, vegetables, eggs and crackers handy.
• Aim to include foods from the four Food Groups of the Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating: Grain Products, Vegetables and Fruit, Milk Products as well as Meat and Alternatives.
• Make lunches a surprise by switching bread for buns, pitas, English muffins, tortilla wraps and bagels. Vary fillings from lean ham to peanut butter and jelly or tuna.
• Add some fun! Insert a secret message in the bag, make a happy face on the banana, cut a piece of cheese with an amusing cookie cutter, or surprise your child with an unusual treat – a piece of angel food cake or few chocolate chips to sprinkle on fruit.