Poly Says Goodbye to 80,000 Plastic Utensils

You might be familiar with Poly’s reusable utensils that have been present on campus since the first day of school. These forks, spoons, and knives are responsible for eliminating 80,000 plastic utensils per year from Poly’s waste stream.

 

Poly’s student sustainability clubs studied how much plastic is used during lunch at Poly and thrown away. After conducting waste audits, studying the negative environmental impacts of single-use plastics, and interviewing Poly’s lunch vendor, Bevaris, students lobbied for Poly to incorporate reusable plates and utensils into the hot lunch program.

 

This effort will remove nearly 1,000 pounds of plastic waste per year from Poly’s waste stream. It also furthers Poly’s climate action goals as plastics are manufactured using fossil fuels, so eliminating plastics helps to reduce Poly’s overall carbon footprint. 

 

Kudos to these student groups and individuals for their advocacy to reduce single-use plastics at Poly: Save the Seas, Closing the Loop Group, Middle School Sustainability Club, Emmett J. ’28, and Amilia E. ’30.