Blunt note from Riverdale school makes the juice box Public Enemy No. 1,

Blunt note tells parents that kids don’t dispose of drink containers properly

Juice boxes — little packages of fruity, sugary happiness. Convenient. Hydrating. Astaple of many a child’s lunch bag. And, according to an eco-friendly Riverdale school, wrong.

In a note sent out as part of a backto-school package, Jackman Avenue Junior Public School encourages parents to pack litterless lunches for their children by putting food and drinks in reusable containers before zeroing in on Enemy No. 1 — “NO JUICE BOXES.”

“Kids don’t understand how to dispose of juice boxes. They put them in the garbage instead of recycling them. Wrong,” the note reads.

“They put them in the recycling but forget to remove the straw. Wrong. They put them in the recycling but their (sic) still half full. Wrong. They leave them on the floor in the lunchroom. Wrong.”

The “wrong” is a reference to a game played during assemblies where a staff member holds up a piece of garbage and asks students whether it’s being put in the “right” or “wrong” place, principal Rory Sullivan explained, conceding that it may not have been the best word choice in the context of the note.

“What we noticed in the school is that the one thing that remains is . . . juice boxes left around on the floor, on the table, and so we’ve been reminding the kids that they have to go home as part of the litterless program,” he said.

“Sometimes, we have new students starting out in our lunchrooms and so the parents may not be aware that we’re a litterless lunch program school.”

Jackman is a platinum-certified EcoSchool, the highest level of certification possible in the Toronto District School Board’s EcoSchools program.

That requires participating institutions to get recertified every year. Among the criteria is that schools not only teach environmentally friendly concepts, but also put them into action.

Jackman was the first TDSB school to get a retrofitted green roof and has “planted trees adjacent to the building to provide passive cooling, installed solar blinds and ceiling fans and put UV film on the windows,” its website says.

“Students are encouraged to bring litterless lunches, and we compost all organic matter. We also have a recycling program for paper, bottles, cans, juice boxes and ink cartridges.”

Maria Saras-Voutsinas, communications co-chair for the Jackman Avenue parent council, said she and other parents take great pride in the school’s eco-friendly approach and platinum certification.

“This is part of the package when you go to Jackman. We’re an EcoSchool and we’re an EcoSchool for a reason, a platinum EcoSchool,” she said.

Saras-Voutsinas, who has a son in Grade 6 and an older daughter who has already graduated, added she wasn’t nearly as environmentally conscious before her children started attending Jackman.

“I would never in a million years send my child to school (now) with anything other than reusable packaging. That’s been ingrained in me, being a parent at an EcoSchool.”

“Kids don’t understand how to dispose of juice boxes. They put them in the garbage instead of recycling them. Wrong.” JACKMAN AVENUE JUNIOR PUBLIC SCHOOL IN A NOTE SENT TO PARENTS