Rubbish from luchboxes!!!!

[star007]

AIBU to expect the council/school to provide bins for my children to through away their lunch box rubbish???
The council has sent an email to all schools in our area telling the heads that children who have sandwiches for school have to bring all their rubbish home with them in their lunch boxes. This is doing my head in as I have 3 children (youngest is only 4) bringing home disgusting, dirty yoghurt/apple juice spilt lunch boxes!
It's winter now and the luch boxes are yuck by the time the hot weather comes they will be rank by the time they get home!
AIBU to think that a bin isn't a luxury item more of an everyday essential item????

X-post re getting DC to empty boxes!

Re. picnics - it would depend where I was picnicking. Not many bins where I like to picnic - on the beach, atop a cliff etc.

They do that already. Previous message!

School dinners are 'policed'. Because all children are given the same sized portions it will be obvious if a child hasn't eaten anything. If a child hasn't eaten much they will be encouraged to have a couple more mouthfuls. Picky eating, wrong choices(a child saying they don't like what a parent has chosen) and refusal to eat anything at all will be reported back to parents via the teacher. Children cannot leave the table without permission.

This is what happens in my school, I should have added.

Mutt- Obviously with 5 children I have very little spare time on my hands!
ChippyMinton- X-post again!

you can get Sigg style drink bottles in pound shops. I got my original Sigg's from Robert Dyas for £2.50 on offer. No leaks!

If you don't want to empty the rubbish from the lunchboxes, why not get your kids to take responsibility for their own rubbish & empty it themselves when they get home? Gee they could even then clean the lunchbox ready for use the next day.

I'ts not hard to empty a lunchbox when they get home is it?

Blimey the things people get riled about

This sounds a bit odd - are there literally no bins in the school? Or do the teachers police what can be put in them? I would be very surprised to find no bins in the office where I work, for example.

I think it shouldn't be a huge problem and there are ways you can work around it (plastic bag for rubbish etc) but it definitely seems weird having no bins in a school, you would think it was one of the basic things that would be provided (like toilets!)

FindingStuffToChuckOut-''Geethey could even then clean the lunchbox ready for use the next day''.
If some of you think that my children can't, won't or don't have to clean and put away things after themselves I can assure you that is not the case or the point I'm trying to make. They all have jobs etc to do and all clean up etc after meals. In the same way this policy from the council/school is not showing them to clean up after themselves or look after their belongings. Thank you.

ds1's school do this and I hate it. His is always minging [vomit smiley]

At least let them throw stuff like yoghurt cartons/not quite empty juice boxes away fgs. Bleurgh.

I think the point people are trying to make is that it is rather an ott reaction to a small matter. If they empty their own lunchboxes, and you get to see what they have eaten (or not) and the school saves money on their refuse collection then everyones ok, surely? Oh and you can recycle things at home that they wouldnt have time to do at school.

I wonder what you would say if they had to cut back on school books or equipment because too much of their budget had to be spent on refuse collection? Its a question of whats important, and I would rather empty their rubbish into my bin than have the school spend thousands a year unnecessarily!

Hot school dinners for all!
Then I'll have space in my classroom to put books on the shelves instead of thirty lunchboxes, and I won't have to put up with wails of
'My sandwiches are wet because my drink has leaked'
or
'My sandwiches are wet because her drink leaked and I hate her'
or
'I've got cheese but I wanted haaaaam'
or
'I've got my brother's lunchbox again and I don't like marmite'
We send rubbish home so parents can track what their children are eating. So if they don't like eating all their yoghurt, stop giving it to them in their lunch.

YANBU the primary my youngest 3 goes to does this too and gosh do I dislike it. I give something in asandwich bag (even if no sandwich) then they get told to ensure it is all in that resealable bag with a serviette/kitchen towel in it that deals with most of the yuckyness but it did take a good 6 months to teach them this.

Mutt - something that seems so insignificant to some may not seem insignificant to others, obviously this is the case here. If you do find this thread ''weird'' don't read it!
My point is simple, in my opinion I think children who sit down to eat lunch/school dinners should be provided with somewhere to put their left over food and rubbish. To me it is a basic thing to have where people eat.
Also if it is saving the council money why isn't this rule in ALL council work places? When I rang the council and asked the lady on the phone if they had to take their lunch rubbish home with her, she told me that they have a seperate food bin and another bin for any other rubbish. To me in school one food waste bin (which is there anyway for school dinner children) and another bin for all other rubbish.

it's not saving the council money as such, it's saving the school money out of its allocated budget. If the school has to pay more for rubbish collection (it's classed as business waste which is charged for), then it's not spending that mney on teachign assistants and books and playground stuff. By sending the rubbish home ot be disposed of, no-one is paying any extra for that (as domestic rubbish collection is paid for out of council tax, so the extra doesn't cost parents extra).

Well when I asked the lady in the council how much money it saved she wouldn't answer me. I would of thought if it was saving that much money she'd of told me. Also like I said if it is saving that much money then I feel all council workplaces should have this system in place.

As part of our routine on arriving home from school, my dcs aged 6 and 10 are expected to sort their own lunchboxes out, eg spoons in dishwasher, rubbish in bin, wipe bag. They've been taught to put yoghurt pots into the little bags I put their sandwiches in, etc.

Oh, and as far as saving money goes, our school's budget comes from the county council, while the local borough council collects the domestic waste from home.

YANBU
All workplace buildings have bins, why are children deprived of this. Its really weird.

Solution: throw the rubbish on the floor?

LifeinCrimbo - Thanks, I think it's bizzare!

My DCs school does this and I've got round the mess by telling them to put everything back into their tupperware and close it before putting it into their lunchbag. I only send tube yoghurts. Definitely not something I get wound up about.

It IS illogical, that it all ends up in the council's rubbish system, but that schools pay a rate on the rubbish they generate and domestic properties do not. Yet.

But in all truth, of all the revolting jobs I have dealt with in motherhood (wee, poo, sick, blood, nits, worms etc etc) the quick and simple task of emptying lunch box doesn't come close as a horrible job.

I would have thought as said previously it is so that parents can see what has been eaten & also to recycle.

It would just take too long at school.

If it's that much of an issue, would you be prepared to pay a cover charge for you DCs to take packed lunches?

The cost of waste disposal for school lunches will be part of the school dinners charge. It is unreasonable for parents who pay for school dinners to subsidise the disposal of waste from packed lunches, imo.