Before Kathleen McMahon ‘19 leaves LT, she wants to utilize the resources she has to help her make LT a better place. She has proposed that the cafeteria use reusable silverware instead of plastic silverware.

“Looking back on four years of high school before college, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunities and people here that help you make the world a better place,” McMahon said. “I finally realized I could make a difference in the world, even if I’m just one person. If you’re passionate about something you can make a change.”

She was inspired after seeing the harmful effects of single-use plastics on the environment. She was also inspired by the Take Action Project in Civics, a class that her sister was taking, which encourages people to do things to better the community, McMahon said. In early January, she had a brief meeting with Principal Brian Waterman about the proposal.

“We are fortunate to have an active student body that advocates for great causes on their own, but also classes that do projects like this,” Waterman said. “There are so many kids that simply want to better our school and community, and there is no better place than high school to learn how complex this can be sometimes.”

The use of reusable silverware has the potential to decrease LT’s plastic use and to save the school money. LT purchases around 3,000 pieces of plastic silverware in total for knives, spoons, and forks every week, Food Service Manager Marcy Lingo said.

“My guess would be about 600 to 900 students use one piece of cutlery per day,” Lingo said.

Plastic silverware costs around 5 cents per piece and are being continuously replaced, Lingo said. Whereas metal silverware cost 19 cents per fork, 15 cents per spoon and 33 cents per knife as a one-time cost, as long as they aren’t thrown away or taken.

“Any change is hard to make, and there are unexpected hardships that you don’t always think you have to go through,” McMahon said.

Some of the obstacles include making sure the silverware are sanitary because they could increase the chance of spreading foodborne illnesses, Lingo said. After every lunch period, cafeteria trays are washed in the dish machine and the metal silverware could be as well. Another employee would have to be hired to ensure there is clean silverware for students to use every period, and the cost to clean it also has to be factored in.

“From a food safety and sanitation standpoint, the wrapped, disposable cutlery is much more sanitary than the loose metal silverware,” Lingo said.

McMahon created a petition on website Change.org that has around 750 signatures, McMahon said. It is being considered by Waterman and the cafeteria, but there are many factors that still have to be discussed.

“We have a lot of great examples of how our school cares about the environment, and it is great that our students are always looking for new ideas,” Waterman said.

A version of this story will appear in the March 1 edition of the LION under the title “Student proposes use of reusable silverware in cafeteria.”