Baltimore City Schools is one of the latest school districts in the Urban Food Alliance to remove polystyrene items, in hopes of helping the environment.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the shift from polystyrene trays to compostable will help reduce pollution around communities and will create compost that can be re-used on farmland.
Polystyrene plates are used in schools across America because of its cheaper cost in comparison to compostable plates. Urban Food Alliance, a non-profit organization, was able to work with tight budgets in school meal programs to create a compostable plate that was affordable.
Elizabeth Marchetta, the Executive Director of the Food and Nutrition Department at Baltimore City Public Schools says the cities choice to join the Urban School Food Alliance was not only to provide the best quality food for students but to implement environmental practices.
“With more and more cities striving for zero waste, we wanted to become proactive in making a change for the betterment of our community.”
The fiber compostable round plate is produced from 100 percent pre-consumer recycled paper fibers and is expected to keep 19 million polystyrene materials out of landfills.
