Re: [greenyes] waste-free lunches

[Jenny Gitlitz <jenny.gitlitz@no.address>]

Steve,
With all due respect, I think you are mistaken to think that intentional
littering of "biodegradable" lunch packaging would work in the U.S. First of
all, it contradicts a generation of anti-litter messages, which we still
want to encourage.  Secondly,  "biodegradable" is only meaningful in the
right environment: your backyard compost heap or a field with frequent
rainfall, for example, not a city street or a school playground or the floor
of a bus in Anytown, USA.

If we had food waste receptacles placed on every street corner and in every
school--and a mechanism for collecting them and composting them--sure!  But
we don't yet.  It is hard enough to organize and fund collection of "hard"
recyclables with economic value--such as aluminum and paper; doing food and
bio-waste is even harder.  This movement is still in its infancy.

Words like "upcyclable" sound trendy and cool, but the concept needs to be
in line with the context.

--Jenny

On 7/2/03 1:11 PM, Ruszkai, Steve at ruszkai@no.address wrote:

> Ms. Hemmert,
> 
> I looked at your website.  This is a start to do less bad for the
> environment, but I don't think you approach is the "best" we can do.  We can
> do better....
> 
> William McDonough and Michael Bruangart wrote "Cradle to Cradle" where they
> developed in S.E. Asia food containers made of bio-degadable rice products
> for train commuters who litter during their lunch ride.  They also embedded
> native  seeds in the containers.  Now, they actually encourage people to
> litter their lunch to enrich the environment--turning waste into food for
> others.  This is doing during "good" for the environment, not just "less
> bad" as the approach you describe in the program below.
> 
> Don't think recyclable--think upcyclable.  Keep it out of the landfill for
> good.  Read the book (which, by the way, has no wood products in it and it
> total upcyclable--not downcycleable which just slows it's way to the
> landfills. 
> 
> Think doing good for the environment--not less bad.  Waste is food.  Keep
> technological products separable from biological products and upcycle both
> back to the manufacturer and the earth respectfully.  No more monstrous
> hybrids like those plastic resin lunch containers which can't be upcycled.
> Use biological containers like products out of paper, corn and rice.
> 
> This is the only eco-effective way for our future generations of school
> lunch-eaters to not just sustain but to improve our environment.
> 
> Steve
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Amy Hemmert [mailto:mhemmert@no.address]
> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 5:19 PM
> To: greenyes@no.address
> Subject: [greenyes] waste-free lunches
> 
> 
> I have been collecting information about waste-free lunches and have posted
> it at www.wastefreelunches.org for people interested in learning more about
> how to implement or participate in a waste-free lunch program. We have
> included sample letters to parents and teachers, information on conducting
> trash audits, examples of salvaged/recycled art projects, composting basics,
> where to purchase waste-free lunch kits, success stories from across North
> America, and links to other waste-free lunch sites.
> 
> If you are involved in a waste-free lunch program and have a success story
> to share, or if you have a site that you think we should link to, please
> email the information to me at webmaster@no.address
> 
> Thanks for helping us make a difference!
> 
> Amy Hemmert
> Santa Cruz, CA
> 
> 
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--Jenny

Jennifer Gitlitz
Research Director, Container Recycling Institute

Home Office:
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