The little milk carton, which has been plopped onto school lunch trays for decades, may soon be shelved.
In the name of environmental correctness, flimsy see-through pouches are replacing stout cardboard cartons. The recyclable "Mini-Sip" pouch is now served with a straw in 1,300 California schools.The switch to an eco-friendly product is one of many driven by a state mandate that school districts reduce waste by 50 percent by 2000.
To students, drinking milk from a pouch is as cool as hearing mom say ketchup is a vegetable.
"I like the pouch better than the box because you can puff it up with a straw, make different shapes out of it, and the milk still tastes good," said Adam Carpenter, a second-grader at Dr. George Washington Carver Elementary.
Fourth-grader Trevor Hunnicutt likes the pouches for their "soft feel." They're also easier to open, don't tip over and "when you throw the pouch in the garbage, it doesn't fill all the space."
The polyethylene pouches, made by DuPont, are said to reduce garbage space by 70 percent and garbage weight by 80 percent compared to milk cartons. The beanbag-like pouches can be recycled into trash can liners for schools, according to the company.
"We live in a city where we need to focus on being environmentally friendly," said Orlando Griego, director of food services for San Francisco's school district, which is trying out the milk pouch program. "Because of our lack of space and our sense of political correctness, we want to make sure kids understand the importance of recycling and preserving space."
To reduce refuse, schools in the San Francisco area are embracing a variety of changes to products and programs.
School cafeterias serve meals on paper trays rather than plastic ones. The trays are either recycled or used in art classes. This reduces water use, since plastic trays had to be washed daily.
Instead of using reams of unrecyclable foil to heat and cover lunches, meals are now heated and served in biodegradable containers. Most districts have switched from serving fruit drinks in unrecyclable boxes to using biodegradable pouches.
Also in San Francisco, giant can crushers have been installed at central food preparation sites. In the past, the district would toss out the hundreds of industrial-size cans generated each day.
To get students to understand the importance of organic recycling, composting programs are sprouting in some schools.