Lunchboxes | Earthrise

Lunchboxes

Durable, long-lasting and rigid, lunchboxes have been a mainstay of the student's everyday life. The modern plastic lunchbox is constructed from thermoplastics which are easily moulded and reshaped under heat. Thus many of these have the capacity to be recycled.

A major drawback of the hinged lunchbox - those with hinged flaps to separate and secure compartments - is the limited durability of the hinge. Under repeated mechanical stress, these often break and ultimately lead to the replacement of the entire lunchbox. Secondly lunchboxes may be too bulky and unwieldy for many everyday situations.

Paper bags have been suggested as alternatives to the plastic lunchbox. However, these have the associated issues of manufacture, disposal and recycling. Their major advantage is that they are biodegradable; but they lack sturdiness required for everyday applications.

Recently there has been a shift to cloth lunch-bags which overcome the associated wear and tear of their plastic counterparts. These also have a long shelf-life like their plastic counterparts but are sufficiently sturdy to see long-term usage without replacement.

Also there has been a recent trend toward assorted lunch dishes being sold in disposable lunchboxes at school canteens. this makes for highly efficient packing and sale of certain food types (rice, pasta and the like) with minimal overheads for the school canteen, as the boxes themselves are bought in bulk and their price absorbed easily by the end product.

However there are environmental concerns related to their usage. These boxes are often seen by students as a one-use-only method of food storage, to be conveniently thrown away rather than washed and reused. If reused, they have a limited lifespan as they are not particularly sturdy. Also, if they are unable to be created from recycled materials; or are themselves unable to be recycled, the materials in the lunchbox will see limited functional use, while posing a non-biodegradable threat to natural fauna.

Schools can avoid some of these associated problems by buying recyclable plastic boxes, and providing appropriate plastic waste recycling facilities. Similarly students should be made aware that their boxes are able to be reused at home, maximising their potential shelf life; and also be aware of the benefits of recycling these plastic lunch boxes.