Company Takes Green Approach To School Lunches

Chance Claxton makes sure to pack a healthy and tasty lunch for her kids before sending them back to school. She's concerned about more than the health of her children, though. Claxton is also thinking about the health of the planet.

Claxton and her partner, Lynn Julian, founded Kids Konserve, a company with Marin roots which sells "reusable, waste-free lunch kits," to combat what they saw as a growing environmental problem.

"So, about 5 years ago now, my daughter was in preschool. She went to a preschool where any trash that was created by the lunch would come home with her," Claxton said. "Having kids, I started having a hyperawareness about the environment. I started looking into … how lunches are packed and how so much waste is created. Sixty-three pounds of landfill waste are created by one student … and that's just lunchtime waste. … It's those single servings, plastic baggies, all those little things."

The metal containers, recycled cotton sack, reusable Food Kozies and other products from Kids Konserve are meant to eliminate lunchtime waste. The company has focused on getting its products into schools from Day 1. Wendy Murphy, another Marin businesswoman, leads the school outreach program for Kids Konserve. The program includes a waste-free lunch challenge and a customized bottle drive.

Neil Cummins Elementary School joined the waste-free challenge with its Eco Hawks Green Team. Mill Valley's Strawberry Point Elementary and San Rafael's Dixie Elementary also joined the waste-free challenge. All the schools that joined the challenge took various steps to reduce waste on campus. The idea is to educate students, parents and teachers about simple things they can do to help take care of the planet.

The company is trying to expand beyond schools and into offices with a line called U Konserve. The new line features reusable shopping bags and steel insulated coffee mugs.