Back at the beginning of the school year, I talked about my mission to eliminate the trash that our daughter could potentially generate from her lunches during the course of the school year… 67 pounds of it, in fact!

67 pounds is truly the estimated annual weight of lunchtime trash generated by the typical child.  When you think about all of those disposable “things” (the drink containers, single-serving foods, wraps, napkins) it’s really not surprising.

While I did plenty of shopping to find all of the perfect items (mostly in blazing pink, because our girl is a girly-girl!) I have discovered a solution that could have saved me all of the hassle (and CO2 emissions from on-going shopping!) It’s a product from a great company called Kids Konserve.  Their Waste-Free Lunch Kit has everything you need:  a recycled cotton lunch bag, a stainless steel bottle, two stainless steel food containers, a food cozy (for wrapping foods) and a cloth napkin!  The stainless steel components give you peace of mind too, so you don’t have to worry about all of those horrible chemicals leaching into the foods!  And it’s super cute to boot!  I wish I had discovered this a lot sooner!

And although the school year is in the homestretch, they don’t need to be just for school lunches… they’re perfect for picnics, playdates, travel or anything on-the-go, AND Earth Day is just around the corner, so this is the ideal time to make this change.

In celebration of Earth Day, Kids Konserve is also offering all of my buddies a 10% discount on any purchase, now until April 30, 2009.  (Just enter: mgoesgreen at checkout.)  And when you think about all of the wraps, napkins and single-use food containers you WON’T have to buy now, you’re going to save a lot of money in the long run!… (you can thank me later!)

So, while you can’t actually “take back” 67 pounds of trash, now you know a simple way to prevent it!