1 Sign Our Petition:
THANK You DOE SchoolFood for Trayless Tuesdays!!
now ELIMINATE STYROFOAM in NYC school cafeterias
As of March 2010, on Tuesdays, there will be no Styrofoam trays used in any of the 1,500 NYC public schools. This reduces Styrofoam tray use by 600,000 trays per week! We are delighted that the DOE recognizes that serving food on polystyrene is wrong.
We are still left with 3,400,000 trays PER WEEK that will continue to fill up our landfills.
Styrofoam is bad for our kids' health and the environment.
Styrofoam has been linked to obesity, premature puberty, neurological problems such as headaches, nervousness and fatigue, and endocrine related cancers. Styrene migrates from the tray into the food. The rate of migration depends partially on the fat content of the food—the higher the fat content, the higher the migration into the food. Many of our kids bypass the migration issue and just eat the styrene by scraping the Styrofoam trays clean with their plastic forks. http://sosnyc.org/HealthIMPACT.html <http://sosnyc.org/HealthIMPACT.html>
Polystyrene can remain intact for hundreds of years before decomposing. The trays take up a disproportionate amount of space in our landfills and they are not commercially viable to recycle. Due to the light weight of polystyrene, it is easily airborne and waterborne, and often ends up as litter. Polystyrene is one of the primary components of marine debris, and can be harmful to birds and marine mammals.
Let’s protect our children and our environment.
We demand that city agencies work together to completely eliminate Styrofoam tray use and to develop healthy and sustainable alternatives.
We, the undersigned, call on Mayor Michael Bloomberg, our City Council members, NYC Schools Chancellor, Joel Klein and the New York City Department of Education (DoE) to address the serious environmental and health risks of Styrofoam food tray use in NYC public schools by:
2. ensuring that our children are eating off of safe food containers that are 100% free of BPA’s and Styrenes
P
2 Sign Up for our Mailing List
3 Pass our info along to all your friends
4 Look for our Rally Information in the Fall
5 Impatient For Change?
Here are the steps to get Styrofoam Trays out and Sugar Cane Trays in
1) Start a Wellness Committee in your school. Every school is mandated to have one!
Have your PTA decide on funding the extra cost per tray (some schools have found a sponsor). Notify your Principal you want to change the trays. Get a signed letter from your principal agreeing to the change. If you share your building with other schools all Principals must agree.
2) Set up an appointment with your School Food Regional Director.
Contact Office of School Food at (718) 707-4300 to find out who your Regional Manager is.
3) School Foods does all the math and tells you what the amount will be. You will send monthly checks to Dianne Frankel, School Food, 44-36 Vernon Blvd. Long Island City, NY 11101
4) Congratulations your children will not be eating off Styrene anymore.
Tray Specs: PRODUCT SPECIFICATION
Product: 5 compartment molded fiber school lunch tray
Brand: First Choice and Sunshine Brands
Model number: KE5/KY5
Raw Material: 85% Sugar Cane Pulp, 12% Wood Pulp, 3% Starch
Recycle Material: 100% pre consumer sugar cane/wood pulp clipping
Surface Treatment: None
Certificate: Independent labs certification that tray meets FDA CFR title 21 requirements.
Quality: Food Grade
Food Contact: Allowed
Biodegradable: 100% 180 days in the right conditions.
Compostable 100%
Outer Appearance: One side smooth/One side Mesh
Performance: Water/Grease resistant, microwaveable, convection warmer to 250
Production: Automatic pulp molding machine with stacking system.
No Human contact. Fully automatic.
Richard Lillien, Appco Paper & Plastics Corp., Ph. 1-516-608-9200
THANK You DOE for Trayless Tuesdays!! |
