AURORA | The Cherry Creek School District is serving up a dose of sustainability this school year with its school lunches, as the nutrition department has swapped out styrofoam meal trays for a new, eco-friendly alternative.

The switch came after a pilot program last year and was made permanent this school year. The new trays are molded fiber made partly from recycled products, are fully compostable and are made in the U.S.

“It kind of feels like an egg carton when you touch it,” said Shannon Thompson, assistant director of Cherry Creek’s food and nutrition services department, of the new tray . “It’s been a really good product for us.”

Thompson said that making the switch away from styrofoam is something the department has wanted to do for a long time, and has been a request from community members. It got its chance last year as supply chain issues made plastic serving products, which are mostly made overseas and then shipped, harder to obtain.

“Because this is made in the United States, that really helped with that,” Thompson said.

The district decided to make the switch permanent after the success of the pilot and was able to obtain enough of the trays for the entirety of the current school year. Thompson said that students like the new trays, which are more durable than their styrofoam counterparts.

“The styrofoam trays have a tendency to break because they’re so thin, these are much sturdier,” she said.

Cherry Creek has taken a number of steps to become more sustainable in recent years, including implementing a suite of infrastructure upgrades earlier this year that will reduce the district’s overall greenhouse gas emissions by 25%. Thompson said the department is currently looking into options for composting the trays, either with individual schools or through a commercial partner.

The fiber trays are currently a little over more than twice as expensive than the styrofoam trays the district bought before, but Thompson said she hopes that as competition in the industry increases the price will go down.

The district is ahead of the curve in making the transition, as a Colorado law passed by the state legislature last year will ban the use of single-use plastic bans and polystyrene in retail food establishments. School districts are included in the law, which will take effect at the beginning of 2024.

This school year, Thompson said the nutrition department has been serving about 20,000 lunches and 5,000 breakfasts per day.

“That saves a lot of styrofoam from going into landfills,” she said.

What in the world? You know what’s sustainable? WASHABLE cafeeria trays and WASHABLE dishware and flatware. Just like they had in any K-8 school or university until we got hooked on the personnel savings of all disposable kitchen items. No, it’s not the water cost or the regulations, it’s not the equipment or maintenance costs, it’s purely the ability to cut one more payroll position.

Have you heard? We’re out of water?? And no one wants to be a dishwasher

Some of us remember when schools and cafeterias used “sustainable” trays. They were called “plastic” and could be washed and reused repeatedly.

Water shortage, takes hot water, takes dishwashers.

We already changed over to the new Paper plates in Martin County NC when school started back this year. Why can’t we make the news like this.

Castle Rock, in Douglas County, a region tapped for long using more water than it actually has, is gearing up to reuse treated wastewater