WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Styrofoam is out and plastic lunch trays are back at Sunset Lake, Tobey and Indian Lake schools in Vicksburg.
Vicksburg Community Schools Food Service Director Sarah Dyer said the switch to hard-plastic trays marks their first use in the district’s three elementary schools since before COVID.
More than three months into the current school year and Dyer said, so far, there are no regrets.
She said the district reverted to disposable trays post-COVID and stuck with them when state-supported free meals came out in 2022.
However, Indian Lake counselor Heather Richeson and the school’s student council inquired about phasing out Styrofoam. Dyer said those appeals were a tipping point in the idea to discontinue Styrofoam.
A 12-year VCS employee, Dyer said there was no cost to making the switch, as the plastic trays were kept in storage, a pass-thru window into the kitchen was already in place, as was equipment necessary to rinse and wash trays.
District-wide, Vicksburg Community Schools kitchen staff members serve about 1,800 lunches a day and approximately 1,300 breakfasts daily.
