The Litterless Lunch (#GYR Giveaway)

At the end of this lovely long weekend, many of us will be making lunches for our budding scholars to take to school. Will your child's be litterless?

The average Canadian child throws away 66 pounds of lunch packaging waste a year. If you replace all that disposable packaging with a reusable lunch carrier, you’d be saving an average of $250 a year, not to mention helping the environment!

You and your family will also be healthier - according to Health Canada, avoiding pre‐packaged, processed foods reduces you and your child’s risk of obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and kidney disease. The majority of sodium found in the typical diet comes from processed food products, accounting for about 77 per cent of Canadians' total sodium intake.

Hannah isn't off to daycare yet, and when she goes she will be provided lunch. However, Chris and I always take our lunches in reusable containers for our fruits, veggies, sandwiches and/or left-over pasta. I work at York University, and we are lucky enough to have a green bin (for composting) in our lunch room. I also use a stainless steel bottle for water, so I don't create waste from my cold beverage either. I am bad at getting coffees (even if the paper cup can be recycled at York), and I intend to purchase a travel mug for future purchases when my mat leave is done (and I will definitely be in need of even MORE coffee).

And instead of the traditional brown paper bag, why not purchase a fun lunch pail or cloth bag that your child can reuse over and over again?

How do you pack your and your child(ren)'s lunches? If you have any green tips that I can benefit from, please leave them below in the Comments section.

As you continue to Green Your Routine with me, please remember to enter the great Seventh Generation giveaway below. My next post will be about eco-friendly cleaners. What type of cleaners do you use in your home?

Open to Canadian Residents only. Valid entries only. Contest ends Sunday, September 23, 2012.

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