My name is Adriana and I am a senior in highschool. Throughout my years of education, styrofoam trays have always been used for holding school lunches. Polystyrene (or Styrofoam) is a cost effective, light weight product that many schools use as lunch trays, but is cheaper always better?

Styrene is an ingredient in polystyrene, and is said to be a possible human carcinogen. If people are exposed to it regularly, as we are at school lunch, it can lead to irritation of the eyes and skin as well as the upper respiratory tract. Chemicals from styrofoam also can leach into the food on the trays which causes issues with health and the reproductive system.

Not only is it bad for health of our students, but it also has negitive effects on our enviornment. It never break down and 57 chemical byproducts are released during the creation of styrofoam, which then pollutes the air. Many recycling places refuse to take any polystyrene products because they dont want it contaminating the other materials. Also, styrofoam is one of the main causes for marine pollution because they float around in the water.

Every year, Fairfax County Public Schools throw away millions of these toxic trays.What can we do about this? Switching to an eco-friendly, reusable tray would not only help our enviornment and health, but also be very cost effective. The price for 500 styrofoam trays is roughly $52. We can get 500 reusable trays for only $15! That means is there are approximatly 2,214 students like at my school, it would only cost around $66 to supply trays for every student. Also, we would then reduce costs again because we wouldn't have to buy more to keep supplying them daily.

A possible issue with this plan is sanitation of the trays. Investing in a large dishwasher would solve this issue, and although they can be costly, we could use the money we save by using the trays to get the dishwasher. Fundraisers could also help raise the money needed.

Together, we can change the health and well being of FCPS students and the enviornment. Every name will get us one step closer to living a more sustainable lifestyle!