The Styrofoam Tray Issue—

Students Learn About The Conflict Between Economy And Environment

By Susan Coney

This past spring sixth grade students from Todd Stentiford and Tim McGuire’s classes were knee deep in polystyrene trays. The students began collecting a few days worth of the disposable trays that Reed Intermediate School lunches are served on to get an idea of just how much waste the school produced.

After doing intensive research and participating in many class discussions, the students were determined to make a difference. Mr Stentiford initially presented an environmental lesson that escalated into a comprehensive ecological study for the sixth graders. Outraged by how much un-recycled lunch waste the school produced during a typical day, the students devised alternative solutions to using disposable lunch trays.

Some possible suggestions were to have the school system purchase reusable lunch trays and use the expensive Hobart Conveyer Dishwasher that is already in place in the Reed kitchen to wash trays, eliminating a great deal of waste. Another proposal was to have the students purchase their own reusable lunch trays at the beginning of the school year and continue to use that tray for the entire year. Another alternative was to use more environmentally friendly products such as paper or cardboard type trays.

The students armed with statistics and loaded with information taken from websites and brainstorming sessions wrote passionate persuasive letters to Joe LaChance, director of food services for Chartwells Food Service, which supplies all of the Newtown Schools with the current lunch program. The children challenged Mr LaChance to come to Reed Intermediate School to discuss more environmentally friendly alternatives to the polystyrene trays.

Mr LaChance accepted the challenge and visited the classroom on June 16 to discuss possible options. Initially bombarded with questions, Mr LaChance patiently presented the students with a dilemma common in the real world of business. He explained to the students that he works for Chartwells Food Service, which has a legal, binding contract with the Newtown Board of Education to provide all the food service for Newtown Schools. He went on to say that the town selects through a bidding process what food service company they will use, and that nine times out of ten the contract goes to the lowest bidding company or the company that provides the town with the best overall package. “It is a very competitive business,” he stressed.

Mr LaChance went on to explain that polystyrene trays are used all over and are very common. He used detailed mathematics to break down the overall costs and showed the students that it would take years to ever make reusable trays cost effective. “For one thing, we would have to hire one maybe two extra lunch service people to collect, rinse, load, and unload the dishwasher,” he said.

He told the students that every school in the Newtown district has unique food service situations. “Hawley uses an aluminum pan with a paper cover, because they do not have a kitchen or cafeteria facility,” he said.

Mr LaChance shared with the sixth graders that he himself had written to McDonald’s Food Corporation in 1985 when he was their age to express his concerns about their use of polystyrene disposable products. He related to the children that he also struggled with the moral dilemma of cost-effective business decisions versus the use of environmentally friendly products.

He said that he and his company are constantly looking for more cost-effective and environmentally sound alternatives in their quest for providing superior food service to the students of Newtown. Mr LaChance told the students that he was always researching various vendors and food service catalogs looking for better products.

He applauded the students for their work in exploring alternatives. As some students suggested the use of paper or cardboard trays, Mr LaChance confessed that he had explored that alternative and found that the food often soaked through and to prevent that problem trays would have to be doubled or tripled up, proving to be wasteful and expensive.

The other alternative of each student purchasing their own tray to be used throughout the year turned out to be unpopular because Mr LaChance shared his fear that some trays would come up missing and that parents would not appreciate having to replace lost trays. He also pointed out that it would be complicated to keep track of everyone’s personal tray.

After lengthy classroom discussions the students for the most part had to agree that Mr LaChance certainly understood and shared many of their same concerns. Turning the tables on the students, Mr LaChance asked, “So what do you think?” One boy quickly raised his hand and said, “Now looking at all the choices it sort of looks like you are making the right decisions.”

Mr LaChance told the students that the beauty of living in a free country and attending a public school is that it gives everyone a voice. He said, “Everyone can go and speak to the board of education and they will listen to you. The school board creates an open forum for the public to express their concerns.”

Assistant Principal Tony Salvatore who had come to hear the class discussion agreed by saying, “I would encourage you to pursue this if you are serious because they will listen to you. This is where all of your skills come in to play — writing, math, persuasive speaking. It is the perfect opportunity, that’s the point of public education.”

Mr LaChance spent well over an hour listening and talking with the students. Mr Stentiford thanked Mr LaChance for taking time out of his busy day to come and speak with his students.

“He has been so gracious to share the mathematics and explain the business aspect of this. He really took it to heart. The voice of the children was heard and he took the time to come in,” he said.

Mr McGuire said, “He is definitely as concerned as the kids are and so open to their suggestions. He took some hard questions and answered them very honestly.”

Sixth grader Brandon Weiner was pleased with the open forum of the discussion. He commented, “I think that Mr LaChance does take us seriously, he went over all the pros and cons. He does support our cause and tries to give us solutions. It is good that he took the time to show us the business side and how it functions and how changing the trays might be difficult.”