Pingree, Concannon tour compostable lunch plate plant
August 25, 2015 |12:36 PM
A Huhtamaki executive, left, shows compostable lunch plates to Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon Monday in Waterville, Maine. (Office of Rep. Pingree)
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon on Monday toured a plant in Maine that has just won a contract to produce compostable lunch plates for six of the largest school districts in the country — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, and Dallas.
The six districts make up the Urban School Food Alliance, which has pooled their collective purchasing power to purchase the new plates.
“It was very exciting to see the plant — which has produced paper plates for over a hundred years — transformed to make these innovative compostable plates,” Pingree said in a news release after touring the Huhtamaki plant in Waterville.
“The contract the company was awarded by six of the nation’s largest school districts to help them replace Styrofoam plates is an incredible opportunity for the area,” she said.
“It’s fantastic news for the plant’s 550 Maine workers, and it’s a testament to the move toward serving more sustainable food in our schools. These plates will not only serve healthy food to our students, but help grow the local economy too.”
Opened in 1903, the Waterville plant historically manufactured molded fiber “Chinet” plates. Now operated by Finnish company Huhtamaki, the plant is producing plates that are made from recycled materials and can be composted.
A Huhtamaki molded fiber lunch plate that can be composted, shown with a typical school meal. (Huhtamaki)
The plates are round with dividers and a space in the center to hold a milk carton, and the design is meant to reflect plates students typically see at home, Pingree’s office said in a news release.
The districts in the Urban School Food Alliance serve 2.8 million students every school day, the news release said, or 469 million meals a year, and procure more than $550 million in food and supplies annually. The coalition is working to drive down nationwide costs, while setting higher standards for school food quality.
PIngree, a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, noted that Concannon, who oversees the National School Lunch Program, is from Maine, and said she was pleased that he visited the state before congressional reauthorization of the child nutrition programs.
