Our technology unit this term has been food packaging and we have been investigating the purpose of food packaging and thinking about the choices that companies make when they package their food items. We have also been looking at whether the packaging is environmentally friendly or not.
This morning (before we ate our morning tea) we investigated the food packaging in our lunch boxes. It was really interesting to see how many items in our lunch box that had commercial packaging on them. We realised that the purpose of the packaging was to keep our food altogether, to keep it clean, to keep it fresh, to keep the bugs out, to show us the brand, to tell us the flavour, to show the ingredients and to show us the expiry date. Food packaging is VERY important and it serves lots of different purposes.
We all counted up the number of food items in our lunch box that were recyclable and the number of wrappers that needed to go in the rubbish. We were astounded by the results.
We had 31 food items today that needed to go in the rubbish. They could not be recycled or re-used.
Using that as an average, that would mean we would have:
155 rubbish items per week,
1550 rubbish items per term, and
6200 rubbish items per year!!!
(and that's only for our class)
We thought that this was a real concern because many of the rubbish items were plastic and foils that can take up to 500 years to break down in a landfill, so the amount of rubbish lying around would be enormous!!!
Toby was very proud of his lunch box because it did not contain a single commercial wrapper. He uses the same plastic snap-lock bags over and over so that he does not need to use glad wrap. His Mum buys large bags of chips and nuts and she puts smaller portions into snap-lock bags. He also uses washable containers to keep his fruit clean and fresh. We worked out that Toby's 5 re-useable bags and containers save
5 pieces of rubbish per day
25 pieces of rubbish per week
250 pieces of rubbish per term, and
1,000 pieces of rubbish per year!
(That's quite a saving from just one person!!!)
We all looked closely at the changes we could make to our own lunch boxes to reduce the amount of rubbish we had each day.
This afternoon we carried out a food packaging investigation. We each got a different type of food packaging, which were all made from different packaging materials. Bryce and Anna were looking at a plastic container that had been used to package pears. We all had to describe the packaging and explain why this sort of packaging had been used by the manufacturer.
Then we had to think of a different way that the same food could be packaged. Lanie and Toby were investigating a tin can containing spaghetti.
Imogen and Arnika were investigating a plastic pottle that contained beef stock. They are looking here to see if their food packaging is environmentally friendly.
William and Samara were investigating a glass jar containing jam. Students had to explain why food packaging that was recyclable or re-useable was more sustainable. They all thought that it reduced the amount of rubbish in our landfills, which made the planet much cleaner and healthier.
Isla and Regan are looking closely at their milk bottle to see if they have any recommendations for the company, suggesting a better way to package the food product. They both decided that Milk was packaged perfectly, as it was a sensible container and completely recyclable. Lots of the other groups came up with some terrific suggestions for improved packaging.
Alyssa and Charlotte investigated a blue polystyrene tray which had stored fresh meat in it. The meat had been covered with a clear plastic wrap. They were interested to note that although the tray recyclable, the plastic was not, so they were trying to think of a better alternative for the manufacturer.
Ryan and Te Aroha were looking at biscuits. The plastic tray was recyclable, but the foil wrapper was not. They fund it difficult to come up with a better suggestion because they could see that the foil helped to keep the biscuits fresh.
Josie and Jayme-Leigh were investigating Nutri-grain cereal. They also found that the non-recyclable material was used to keep the product fresh and clean. They could see that the cardboard was used to stop the food being crushed, to advertise the brand and to make it easy to stack on the supermarket shelves.
Then each group shared their findings about their different packaging back with the class. We presented a documentary.
We found out A LOT about food packaging today - we cant wait to create some of our own!!!
