Wayland Green Team Asks for Non-Polystyrene Trays at New High School

Representatives from the Wayland Green Team spoke at this week’s School Committee meeting about the need to do away with polystyrene lunch trays at the new high school.

“We’re of the mindset that polystyrene isn’t an effective way to serve food to students long-term for a number of reasons,” Green Team member Christina Veal told the School Committee. While the ultimate goal is to remove polystyrene trays from all Wayland schools, the Green Team’s immediate goal is to impact the new high school.

The High School Building Committee heard from the Green Team on this issue previously and has done preliminary looking into whether dishwashers could be added to the kitchen at the new high school. According to HSBC chair Lea Anderson, who attended the meeting to seek change orders for the construction, adding dishwashers at this point seems to be cost prohibitive.

Veal and fellow Green Team member Andrea Case, however, said they plan to continue looking at options, including installing dishwashers, and make a presentation on their findings at the June 6 School Committee meeting.

Options could include plastic trays that are washed and reused daily or one-time-use paper products, Case explained. The new high school cafeteria is designed in a food court style, so paper food boats could work, though trays to carry multiple items would still be necessary. Superintendent Gary Burton pointed out that if the trays hold only containers of food, they do not have to be sanitized each day like trays on which the food is directly placed.

“We’re here to try to figure out what is the best avenue to pursue for the future,” Veal said. “We’re looking for a solution for the next 40 years … [that is] a cost-effective, environmentally friendly and healthy alternative for our students.”

According to Case, Wayland Public Schools currently use 22,000 polystyrene trays per year, but changing that requires funds that are, admittedly, difficult to come by.

Currently, Wayland’s lunch program is very nearly self-supported. Polystyrene is an inexpensive means of serving the food, and its cost has already been figured into the tight food service budget. Dishwashers could require additional staff – as well as costs to install them – and paper products are more expensive than the current trays.

Even with the complications, no one disagreed with the negative aspects of using polystyrene. Green Team members will spend the next two weeks crunching numbers and seeking an appropriate alternative.

“There are health consequences of them [polystyrene trays],” said Case. “There’s pollution involved in creating them, in disposing [of] them. Eating off polystyrene isn’t sending a good message to our kids.”