Needham Schools Ditch Single-Use Lunch Trays

February 10, 2025
• The school district has phased out its compostable cafeteria trays in favor of reusable stainless steel ones.

Students at Needham Public Schools now receive their school lunches on a silver platter — literally.

In an effort to reduce waste and cut down on supply costs, the district purchased 10,000 stainless steel trays. The trays replace compostable ones, which, while environmentally friendly, were still single-use, NPS Director of Nutrition Services Emily Murphy said.

Needham students used more than 660,000 compostable trays over the last school year, and the trays were “one of our biggest supply expenses,” Murphy said. The district previously used styrofoam trays.

The schools serve about 3,500 students a day, Murphy said. Since the tray rollout around late January, not much has changed, though Murphy said there’s a clear difference in the quality of the trays.

“The compostable ones were also much smaller and not very sturdy. So there were a lot more spills in the cafeteria, dropping food and stuff. The trays were very flimsy,” Murphy said. “These stainless steel trays are nice and sturdy. Students can put lots of food on them, and they don’t have as much spills or anything.”

Compostable trays also added very little benefit to the actual compost, Murphy said, because they lack nutritional value — their food recycling company, Agri-Cycle Energy, would reluctantly accept the trays.

Students are continuing to separate their trash, recycling and food waste, but now shelve their dirty trays on a receptacle to be picked up for cleaning. The district lacks the infrastructure to clean the trays themselves, so they partnered with Re:Dish for daily pick-ups and drop-offs.

The measure falls in line with Needham’s Climate Action Roadmap, which aims to increase the number of materials that are reused, recycled and composted, Sustainability Manager Gabby Queenan said. A specific goal is to evaluate the waste from municipal facilities and schools, she said.

“Nutrition services, by acquiring those reusable trays, acted brilliantly to reduce the amount of waste that we’re seeing in our school system when it comes to trays, because there are a significant number of single-use trays that were purchased,” Queenan said. “Being able to convert that to reusable is a big dent in the waste stream for our schools.”

NPS removed plastic water bottles last year, opting for aluminum ones and smaller boxed waters specifically at elementary schools.

Needham is the first district in Massachusetts to implement the trays at the K-12 level, Superintendent Dan Gutekanst told the School Committee at its latest meeting. While some students are still acclimating to the change, Gutekanst said the trays have been well-received.

With Needham spearheading the effort, other school districts reached out inquiring about the rollout, Murphy and Queenan said.

School Committee student representative Max Scott said the new trays were “an easy swap,” and the NHS Environmental Action Club celebrated the trays on their Instagram page.

In a recent visit to Broadmeadow Elementary School, Queenan said students expressed “sheer joy” around the new trays. It was also an opportunity for young learners “to see the impact of the choices that they make.”

“There’s a real interest in sustainability and reuse and cutting back on waste,” Queenan said. “It was really great to see the kids were excited about that and could understand the impact that the trays were going to have.”

Murphy will likely provide an update on the initiative to the School Committee next month.

Increasing sustainability practices is an ongoing effort for Murphy and Assistant Director Jennifer Tuttelman, both of whom are dietitians. The district purchases through some local farms, one of the biggest being the Worcester Regional Food Hub, which is a collection of suppliers. The schools also shy away from pre-packaged food and look to cook from scratch with raw ingredients, Murphy said.

Once they switch over to the reusable trays in their adult catering program, the next step, perhaps, is eating lunch with a silver spoon — reusable cutlery that is.

“Silverware is a lot easier to throw out, so I think silverware will probably be one of our biggest challenges,” Murphy said. “But I’m willing to work for that.”