Portland, Oregon Schools Still Serve Lunches on Styrofoam Trays

Portland, Oregon's school board members got some unusual visitors during their meeting this past Monday night — a group of four students toting more than 1,000 Styrofoam trays. The students, who ranged from third to seventh graders, showed up to protest local schools' use of plastic silverware and Styrofoam lunch trays. More than 40 Portland schools continue to serve all breakfasts and lunches on disposable serving ware, to the detriment of the environment. Residents — including young students — want the schools to green up their acts already.

When it comes to environmentally degrading food packaging, it doesn't get much worse than Styrofoam. The disposable plastic is petroleum-based, a fact that perpetuates our reliance on oil and contributes to climate change. The stuff also doesn't biodegrade, so it winds up sitting around in already-full landfills for years and years (and years and years). Finally, there's just no need for Styrofoam anymore. Lots of greener alternatives exist, including compostable/biodegradable serving ware, plastic crafted from corn, and paper goods made from recycled material, just to name a few.

It's pretty surprising that Portland of all places would continue to serve its lunches on such planet-killing plastic ware. For one, most folks regard Portland as one of the greenest cities in America. And second, according to The Oregonian, the city banned restaurants from serving food on polysterene plastic (aka Styrofoam) more than 20 years ago. Strange to think that the same policy wouldn't apply to the lunchrooms that keep the city's kids fed.

So far, 28 of Portland's 85 schools have switched to reusable plastic lunch trays and real silverware, with another 17 poised to make the switch in the coming months. But that still leaves more than 40 learning institutions that continue to dish out lunches on the same, old Styrofoam. The reason for that, according to The Oregonian, is that some schools lack the resources to use and wash reusable serving ware.

"Many of Portland's decades-old schools that have not been updated don't have the plumbing capabilities to deliver enough water pressure and hot water to properly sanitize trays, according to Gitta Grether-Sweeney, district director of nutrition services," Betsy Hammond wrote in The Oregonian. "Until those schools can get major plumbing upgrades, reusing trays won't be safe, she said."

But even if schools can't switch to reusable trays and real silverware, there's no reason they must continue to use Styrofoam. As I mentioned earlier, much greener forms of disposable serving ware exist, including compostable plates and cutlery, PLA plastic (a biodegradable type of plastic made from corn), or recycled/recyclable paper goods.

Grether-Sweeney told The Oregonian that Nutrition Services was looking into alternatives, and high schools and middle schools should have non-Styrofoam options in place by next year. But when such eco-friendly alternatives to Styrofoam exist, the Portland School District should make a stronger commitment to protecting the environment. You can help push the city in a greener direction by signing our petition asking Nutrition Services to put a firm plan in place to eliminate Styrofoam trays and environmentally degrading serving ware in all Portland schools.

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Photo credit: Kaiban via Flickr