A lunch break – it's an important and often necessary part of our working or school day. It's a chance to stop your tummy rumbling¹, grab a bite to eat and maybe chat with some friends. And now we're spoilt with an array of places to buy our lunch from, all offering tempting² dishes and humble³ sandwiches to eat on the go.

 

But our appetite for buying our lunchtime fare is not just costing us money, there might be a cost in terms of damaging our planet too. Just grabbing a sandwich, crisps and maybe a cake and coffee can produce at least four items of waste. Cartons, cups, wrappers and plastic cutlery are all part of our disposable feast in addition to the food waste we create. Some experts say throwing away food, which produces methane⁴ as it rots, is a bigger cause of climate change than plastics.

 

But regardless of what causes the most damage, the solution, according to an environmental campaign group called Hubbub⁵, is to eat packed lunches. Tessa Tricks from the group says "People are saying that they are buying food to take out because life has got busier." And she says people think they are being more efficient; but she argues that it's usually healthier and cheaper to make your own lunch. It means you can eat the things you really want and make the quantity that you actually need.

 

Of course, preparing your lunch is another thing to fit into your morning scramble⁶ of getting ready for work, so if you haven't got time and you are going to buy lunch, an alternative Hubbub suggests is to take your own container to a shop and ask them to put your food in it. The idea of using reusable coffee cups for hot drinks and refilling water bottles has already proved successful, so this could be another step in the right direction. A trial in East Anglia (in the UK) showed that offering a 10% price reduction did persuade some customers to come prepared with their own lunch box.

 

The problem with eating on the move is that you might want to carry your grub in something that is disposable, so it's a good idea to make sure it's something that is recyclable and not to take extra sachets of sauce or utensils⁷ that you're not going to use. The message seems to be that if we give our lunchtime eating habits some thought, we can all do our bit in helping⁸ reduce climate change and damage to our environment. That is something for all of us to chew on!

点击收听单词发音