Millions of aluminium school lunch trays heading to landfill

Friday, 11 July 2025

Millions of aluminium trays used for school lunches will go to landfill despite claims they were being recycled.

The School Lunch Collective (SLC) has recently “reactivated recycling” for Auckland and Waikato schools through a partnership with a metals recycler in Hamilton, accounting for about 46% of the meal trays used each day, a spokesperson told The Press.

They would not say when this happened but a SLC social media post on June 19 announced: “We’ve just partnered with new recyclers in Auckland & Waikato and are exploring more regions.”

It is unclear if any trays were being recycled from the start of term one in late January, prior to school lunch supplier Libelle Group’s liquidation on March 11.

The company was part of the School Lunch Collective (SLC), along with Compass Group and Gilmours NZ, awarded the two-year contract to supply the new school lunches model.

SLC supplies more than 100,000 meals a day to 430 schools across the country, including 117 schools in the South Island.

Compass Group acquired some of Libelle’s assets including its central kitchen hub in Hamilton, following the liquidation, to ensure the programme could continue.

A spokesperson for SLC said they could not say if recycling had been done prior to the liquidation as Libelle Group had handled the recycling for the programme.

“So, this is a question for Libelle.”

Asked if the other SLC partners knew about the arrangements for recycling, the spokesperson declined to comment.

The Press asked the Libelle liquidator David Webb from Deloitte if the company had been recycling the trays prior to liquidation. He did not respond.

SLC declined to provide the name of the aluminium recycler. One large metal recycler said they were approached by the SLC but turned the offer down as the trays would need to be cleaned from food waste, and the ultimate value of the very light aluminium would be low.

SLC’s website previously said the trays were cleaned and broken down so they could be “repurposed into practical items like engine parts”, but the wording was recently amended to include “in some regions” for clarity.

It planned to extend recycling to Bay of Plenty schools from the start of term three, which would increase the percentage to 54%, then scale to other regions over time - though there would likely be some regions where it was never feasible, they said.

“The meals are served hot, so need to be in an aluminium tray that can be heated, however there is only one provider nationally [in Hamilton] that has the aluminium recycling service we need.”

Despite no recycling in the South Island, SLC said it is continuing to encourage schools to return as many meal trays as possible so drivers can collect them for processing.

Ann Brokenshire, principal of Christchurch’s Hillmorton High School, said if the trays were not being recycled that was “really disappointing”.

“Young people are really concerned about the environment.”

The Ministry of Education’s website advises schools to “help with recycling” by getting students to “clean off food waste and remove wrapping before putting them in Go Boxes for pick-up”.

The ministry’s contract with Compass Group, which leads SLC, does not include a minimum requirement for recycling, but does require the use of “reusable, recyclable or certified compostable packaging, cutlery, and tableware wherever possible and/or practicable in all instances”.

The contract requires SLC to have a waste and surplus management plan that “should describe the collection systems in place and pathways used to ensure items end up in the correct waste streams (for example recycling, resource recovery or waste reduction)”.

Ministry of Education operations and integration hautū (leader) Sean Teddy said the school lunches programme “is committed to reducing waste and supporting a more sustainable future for Aotearoa”.

“As part of this commitment, many suppliers use recyclable packaging materials, including aluminium trays, and where possible, are recycled.”

He said SLC supplied lunches to about 43% of schools in the programme and had delivered 10 million meals since the start of term one.

“The use of aluminium trays - widely regarded as one of the most sustainable packaging materials - demonstrates a shared commitment to environmentally responsible practices.”

However, Hannah Blumhardt, a zero waste researcher and co-founder of advocacy organisation The Rubbish Trip, said the process of manufacturing aluminium, which relied on mining bauxite, was a highly energy and resource intensive process and very harmful to the environment.

“The idea that you would manufacture aluminium and then not even recycle it is really, really harmful environmentally.”

She said the large, centralised model for school lunches made it logistically difficult to recycle, she said, suggesting a programme using local suppliers would be better able to wash and reuse plates and cutlery.

“We absolutely should be feeding children in schools and we also should be able to do it in a way that upholds the mana of both people and the planet.”

Teddy did not say what the Ministry knew about the recycling of the trays - from the start of the programme and after the liquidation of Libelle.

“At the time the Services Agreement was signed, the proposed recycling solution was to be managed by Libelle, a subcontractor of Compass. Since the liquidation of Libelle, we have been working closely with the School Lunch Collective to reinstate a national recycling option for the aluminium trays.”

Asked why clear targets for recycling were not included in the contract, Teddy said the services agreement was “very clear to our suppliers as to their responsibilities and obligations for working towards and achieving the sustainability and waste management requirements”.

Brokenshire said the previous supplier of lunches used cardboard trays, which the school understood were compostable.

Her main concern was ensuring food poverty was addressed with nutritious, appetising meals that students enjoyed eating.

“The number of students taking lunches has significantly declined with this provider and our staff are concerned obviously around food poverty and [if] our students are actually getting the food that they need.”

Mairehau High School principal Harry Romata said it was challenging for schools to make all students clean the trays because “they’re kids”.

“We want kids to do the right thing but we’re not going to get punitive, recycling is a good idea but the main issue is that we just want kids to eat the food.”