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