Plastic in schools

[Eccentric]

I discovered yesterday that secondary schools in the UK give young people disposable plastic cutlery to eat their food every day. That means that if there are say (not sure of this) 1200 children in a school will use 7.2 kilo's of plastic forks (I weighed one) per day which is 1440 kilo's of plastic forks a year per school.. There are approximately 24372 schools in the UK so 35095680 kilo's of plastic forks are used every day. That is without the plastic pots that they put the food in, and the plastic lids that they put on top or the water bottles that they all buy every day. I am absolutely appalled! They could buy every child a stainless steal container with a stainless steel fork that they take home and wash every day. Surely over a couple of years this would be more cost effective too? Or as with lockers schools could ask for a deposit for the container.If a child loses it then they would have to pay to replace it. And each child could have a stainless steal refillable water bottle too.

What do you all think?

[Amber]

I think the issue of plastic cutlery pales into insignificance when compared with the muck the kids are shovelling into themselves with it, quite honestly.

Where to start? Costa/Starbucks lids (since when have adults needed baby cups to drink from?); supermarket apples wrapped in plastic shells mounted on cardboard containers lined with bubble wrap; disposable one-use wipes for your toilet ('simply flush away').

Good luck with this one Eccentric - we are nation hooked on convenience and disposability.

[silverysea]

I agree, it's the same in the hospital canteen where I work.

If you have to employ someone to wash up, plastic is cheaper. Especially since there's no (apparent) comparable cost to putting stuff in the bin. It will probably be worse with minimum wage.

There is no way my child would bring home and wash their own dishes every day. They would be lost or left to go mouldy. I fight a losing battle as it is to get dishes done at home.

What can we do about it, though? The whole economy is so distorted.

Having bought lots of "ready meals" while we had a kitchen remodel disaster, I also found they are high sugar high fat high salt, and growing (and slim!) dds were not satisfied with the portion sizes so ate more. They also take up a huge amount of space with packaging, in proportion to the small amount of food, if you can call it food. What a total con and rip off.

[doodles]

Can't help you on that one I'm afraid silverysea, Ds's canteen has metal cutlery and washable plates. However, packaging is a real rant of mine so I'm with you.

[Amber]

Having bought lots of "ready meals" while we had a kitchen remodel disaster, I also found they are high sugar high fat high salt, and growing (and slim!) dds were not satisfied with the portion sizes so ate more. They also take up a huge amount of space with packaging, in proportion to the small amount of food, if you can call it food. What a total con and rip off.

We ended up buying a camping gas large stove thing when we had our kitchen redone as we couldn't stomach (or afford!) those plastic-packed microwave 'meals'. They seemed to be all sauce somehow and just didn't taste nice. It was quite fun seeing what we could cook on three rings of gas. Luckily it was summer time so we didn't risk CO poisoning by using it indoors.

Why are newspaper weekend supplements wrapped in plastic bags? Why do they always contain leaflets full of 'slacks' and comfortable crimplene shirts that no on ever buys?

[quasimodo]

I have read recently that there will be more plastic in our seas than fish by 2050.You may be aware of the huge rubbish lake that is moving in the Southern Oceans of our world.This was a wonderful talk.

https://www.ted.com/talks/capt_charles_ ... anguage=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Having a daughter who wants to work in sustainability keeps me alive to such issues including links and articles.The issue of plastic cutlery in schools is part of a huge picture.

[onebigdilemma]

Both my boys at different schools both say they use metal cutlery.

[Tinkers]

Unfortunate downside of the low oil price (in addition to my own job security ) is that the cost of feedstock for making plastics is at a low.

Excessive packing is a big bug bear of mine. Even if it is cardboard that is more easily recyclable.

People tend to forget that the R3 is reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduction should be the first choice of possible.

One particular thing that gets me is when the checkout person puts our chicken in yet another plastic bag when it's already wrapped. One once asked us and we said no. "Are you sure? It's chicken."
The chicken is completely sealed already. Why does it need to be in yet more plastic? And don't say there's possible contamination on the outside, because the whole package has being already rolling around the rest of our stuff in the trolley without it, so if contamination is an issue, it is shutting the door after the horse has bolted.

Also, no I don't need the single pepper I've bought putting in a separate plastic bag either.

We have become a throw away society and that needs to change.

[doodles]

Tesco delivered my groceries the other day and their fruit and veg now comes in American style brown paper bags, all very commendable and recyclable but I had a bag with one, yes one, bulb of garlic in it and another with five bananas in it

One of the reasons I like my veg box is that it comes in a box covered in mud and the only thing that comes in a bag is the lettuce or salad leaves.

[kenyancowgirl]

Both my boys at different schools both say they use metal cutlery.

+1 for our school too, onebigdilemma