Community Consolidated School District 181
School Lunch Program Recycling Mission Statement
The Recycling Program at CommunityConsolidatedSchool District 181 endeavors to reduce waste on campus, promote the recycling of materials, and maintain and promote a clean, sustainable and environmentally conscious campus. The program will also work on issues of reuse, waste reduction, energy and water conservation and awareness of various environmental issues. The program strives to make School District 181 a model of a sustainable and environmentally responsible institution. It is the goal of the program to educate students, faculty and staff about their daily impacts on the earth and to give them the tools to take positive actions to protect and sustain our living world.
Current 2008-2009 program includes:
- We are using disposable utensils produced from potatoes and cotton seed oil- our “tater-ware” is bio-degradable. The new “tater-ware” is actually sturdier and does not have the plastic smell found in plastic table ware.
- We have reduced our use of plastic film wrap by 90%, we are now using soy bean based eco friendly bags and deli paper for our whole grain reduced fat cookies, whole grain hot pretzels, hot sandwiches and served with our re-usable green deli baskets.
- We installed 100% fruit frozen swirl machines in the cafeteria, using “eco-container” cups.
- We only use true bio-degradable paper products for serving pizza and oven baked fries.
- Our made to order salad bar is served in a totally combustible square bowl w/lid.
- We are using re-usable green plastic lunch baskets for students to assemble and eat their lunch. These baskets are lined with a soy bean based deli paper prior to serving the students lunch. The baskets are washed and sanitized after each lunch period.
- Our homemade soup is served in “eco-container” cups.
- The napkins we used are of a natural paper product that is 100% recyclable.
- We have ordered bulk dispensing containers for ketchup, mustard, and mayo. We will provide paper portion cups for students to portion the condiments. This will eliminate the need for portion control condiment packages. We also will dispense salad dressings, bbq sauce, cheese sauce and marinara sauce from the serving line into paper portion cups.