Who’s behind Green My Lunchbox?
We all are. But here’s some background on how it started.
Fabkins co-founders, Joyce Raffo and Paige Rodgers, were having their weekly meeting when Joyce posed a bold question: “What more can we be doing to reduce the massive amounts of school lunchtime waste going to landfills every year?” We both knew that replacing paper napkins with cloth was just addressing a part of the problem. We wanted to do more.
We pondered the ways we could make a bigger difference and the idea of a campaign, bringing together all waste-free lunch companies to educate families about the importance of packing waste-free, began to take shape. We knew we needed a BIG goal. The EPA estimates that the average school-age child generates 67 pounds of lunchtime waste. If we were able to get 15,000 families to pack a waste-free lunch, and multiplied that by 67 pounds, we could eliminate over 1 million pounds of waste. That would be HUGE!
We met with our friends over at Kids Konserve, and talked more about what the campaign would look like. We wanted to create a dialog among parents, offer discounts and daily giveaways, and educate the masses that simple changes can make a big difference. That was back in March.
On Earth Day 2010, we launched Green My Lunchbox on the web and on Facebook. More than 20 companies have joined the campaign and thousands of parents are sharing their green living tips because of it. We hope that many more will come as we try to reach our goal of 15,000 members. Please join us, invite your friends, and help us eliminate 1 million pounds of waste. But most importantly, this school year, pack a waste-free lunch!
Thanks,
Joyce Raffo and Paige Rodgers