Evidence of Environmental Awareness Piles Up in Absence of Trash at MPS
Student Council Members proudly pose with their waste-free lunch display. Photos MPS
MPS's youngest learners have waste-free fever! Photos MPS
PROMOTING WASTE-FREE LUNCHES AT MPS
MANITOUWADGE, ON – In a world of so much fast and packaged food, discarded packaging is becoming an enormous problem for the environment. The students and staff at MPS take these ecological concerns very seriously and believe of taking action to be part of the solution by participating in and promoting a ‘Waste Free Lunch Week’.
Students and staff took the Province-wide challenge to promote a clean environment by encouraging students to be aware of unnecessary waste, thus bringing their lunches in re-usable containers. As a result they have noticed considerably less garbage going to the dumpster – and in turn to our landfills where it would be polluting the environment. The provincial Waste-Free Lunch Challenge began Monday, October 21st and continues through this Friday, October 25th, in participating schools across Ontario (scroll down past this article to see full details of the contest).
Eco-friendly tips have been passed on each day to encourage and remind everyone of the challenge. MPS Student Council members have been weighing the garbage bags from school lunchrooms, comparing it with the garbage bags from the week prior and recording their findings. Teaching young children the whys and ‘hows’ of environmental awareness will ultimately benefit everyone – the children, those teaching and supporting their learning, and our shared future.
The students were excited to have a display in the hallway promoting their ideas to the parents and visitors who visited Manitouwadge Public School’s Open House the evening of October 23rd. Another job well done at MPS!
Learning about how they can have a positive effect on the environment, while participating in this province-wide challenge, helps students feel empowered and aware of the significant impacts one person can have on the world around them! Photos MPS
Is your Northshore/Greenstone school participating in the 2013 Waste-Free Lunch Challenge? Send us photos/details to share with OntarioNewsNorth.com readers!
MORE INFORMATION: ONTARIO WASTE-FREE LUNCH CONTEST
What is the Waste-Free Lunch Challenge?
The Waste-Free Lunch Challenge is a school program developed by the Recycling Council of Ontario in partnership with the Carton Council of Canada.
The goal of the program is to help schools decrease the amount of garbage they produce and to educate students, staff and parents about waste reduction.
School lunches are a major source of waste in Ontario. The average student’s lunch generates a total of 30 kg (66 lbs.) of waste per school year, and an average elementary school generates 8,500 kg (18,700 lbs.) of waste per year.
There are two features of the program:
- The Challenge itself, where students commit to bringing a waste-free lunch every day during Waste Reduction Week (Oct. 21-25).
- A competition where classrooms/schools who register for the program, monitor and audit the waste produced from their lunches on a normal day (prior to the Challenge) and then again each day during the week-long Waste-Free Lunch Challenge. To enter the competition, classrooms/schools are asked to submit a final entry form with their results and a brief summary of their experience. Prizes will be awarded to classrooms/schools with significant changes in the amount of garbage sent to landfill and those who make a contribution to improving waste management practices across the whole school.
Prizes will be awarded to 21 classrooms/schools that are most successful in reducing the amount of waste generated from their school lunches. Cash prizes will be awarded to classrooms/schools in the beginner (stars) and advanced (leaders) categories:
- Waste-Free Lunch Stars: Grand Prize ($1,000), four Environmental Prizes ($500 each), and five Honourable Mentions ($100 each).
- Waste-Free Lunch Leaders: One Grand Prize ($1,000), four Environmental Prizes ($500 each) and five Honourable Mentions ($100 each).
Schools will self-categorize based on their current waste reduction policies and practices. Participating classrooms/schools that submit a final entry form in the Waste-Free Lunch Challenge will be eligible for prizes that will support their waste reduction efforts.
For more information visit www.WasteFreeLunch.com
