Toss the brown-bag habit

Each kid who brings his or her own brown-bag lunch to school every day generates nearly 70 pounds of waste by the end of the school year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There are a few things parents can do to reduce that number, and save a few bucks at the same time:

• Pack your kid’s lunch in a reusable bag. They come in cool sizes and designs, and they eliminate the need for one-time-use brown-paper sacks.

• Pack lunch items in reusable containers. Not only do plastic baggies cause environmental harm, but families spend an estimated $85 on them each year, according to the Sierra Club.

• Pack metal or wooden utensils your child can reuse. Why spend money on plastic forks and spoons only to have them thrown away each day?

• Pack a reusable drinking bottle. Reusable bottles prevent one-time-plastic bottles from clogging landfills, and they encourage kids to drink more water.

Source: Environmental News Network