Every day around 400,000,000,000 plastic forks, knives, and  spoons get thrown away by the American population. Those utensils get tossed into the ocean, which can be harmful to the animals that the ocean is home to.

When schools use plastic utensils, they are changing the environment drastically. If 350 out of 577 students at Cannon Falls Middle School and High School eat lunch every day of the 180 days of school, a great deal of plastic silverware is being thrown away. Each student gets a fork, spoon, and knife every day, multiplied by 350 students, multiplied by 180 school days. That is roughly 189,000 plastic silverware pieces getting thrown away by the school each year. Those numbers are not even including the trash being thrown away by the students who eat breakfast. CF is a small, rural school, so imagine how much is being thrown away by a large school. 

CF schools also don’t help with pollution because they have recently been using styrofoam lunch trays. According to Colgate University, styrofoam is non-biodegradable and non-recyclable.

There are times when using styrofoam trays and plastic silverware is acceptable. For instance, when the student body is being released early due to unexpected weather, it is fine to use plastic silverware and styrofoam plates because the cooks need to be able to leave early to not get caught in the bad weather. If the cooks have to stay to wash dishes, it defeats the purpose of the early release.

“Buying 500 plastic or styrofoam trays or utensils everyday feels more expensive than buying 500 reusable trays and utensils for a year,” says Isla Harrison. 

Unless something changes drastically, it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, according to Habit of Waste. By investing in reusable trays and silverware, CF can change the environment dramatically. CF can be a part of the solution to help make the world a better place. It only takes a couple differences.