Sophomore Henry Jiang and Sophomore Kai Trees have taken action to mitigate the increasing usage of plastic lunch box containers at UC High by launching a plan called Love Food Not Waste, otherwise known as School Lunch Sustainability.
They believe that the number of plastic lunch containers around campus has become more common. “School Lunch Sustainability is the conversion of plastic-based to more compostable and reusable material. We want to aim to reduce the number of plastics that will stay and harm the environment forever,” said Jiang.
Trees said, “First of all, it’s good for the environment, and secondly, by doing it here at UC High, where San Diego Unified is the second largest school district [in California], they can spread their influence across the state and make even greater changes.”
The plan’s intentions will not only benefit the environment at school but also promote sustainable standards. Trees said, “The main goal is to reduce the amount of plastic we have in our school lunch program and replace it with sustainable alternatives. Mainly we want to focus on compostable alternatives.”
Jiang added, “The goal of School Lunch Sustainability is to have any form of sustainability where we trash, recycle, as well compost, instead of having only one option of removing waste from the school campus. We also want to make use of the materials that are unnecessarily thrown away.”
“We’re working with [LFNW Program Specialist] Sarah Diaz, who is part of the recycling management district, as well as Janet Withed, who is her coworker. Together, we’re discussing what are students’ parameters and what they are okay with. We did this by collecting data via a form and we hope to use this to our advantage in order to bring more recycling to campus and make it as simple as possible, then expand that recycling into more items, and hopefully introduce compost,” said Jiang.
Diaz said, “All of us as individuals have a role in learning how to better care for our planet so that she can continue to care and provide for us. I believe the entire purpose of education is to create the opportunity for each of us to be better people. The earlier we start behavioral habits that can support and sustain us, the more ingrained those habits become, and the more we are able to expand upon them, year after year, generation after generation.”
Fred Espinosa, Acquisition and Production Manager, said, “It was created for two reasons: first of all it’s the right thing to do for our district. We are a large district and we have the resources and the footprint to make a difference in, you know, in eliminating waste in our district and specifically our department. Actually after we created it, the state has adopted rules, regulations and laws that have supported our effort, but kind of made it mandatory that we stay on the path that we’re on, which we’re very excited to do.”
Trees added, “We are working with some district representatives to hopefully at some point get a pilot program, in which we try new sustainable options for school lunches.” “We’re going to find further plans of what the students have to do to contribute to the goal, or if it’s just suppliers and the district who are going to do this,” said Jiang.
“One thing I’d really like to change is the turkey sandwich container. Those are plastic and I always see the trash cans full of these containers. I feel like it is a big waste to see all of these being shipped to the landfill when they could either be recycled or changed into sustainable alternatives such as paper or bamboo,” said Jiang.
“This will benefit the school because, for one, students will be able to be on a campus with minimal trash, and second, UC High can be a role model for other schools to do the same,” said Trees.
“Our priority is to feed students while being conscientious of the impact on our budget and the environment,” Diaz said.
“For further information, please contact us through [email protected] and also if you see us around campus, feel free to talk to us,” said Jiang.