Pinellas County schools will start using environmentally-friendly food trays

GULFPORT, Fla. (FOX 13) - Pinellas County's schools are celebrating Earth Day 2019 with some changes to their food trays. The district's food and nutrition department will unveil two new sustainable lunch containers that will be used in cafeterias across the district by the 2019-2020 school year. 

One of the new containers is made from Ohio prairie grass, and the other is created from Florida sugarcane. The environmentally-friendly lunch packaging will replace the foam and plastic ware currently in use.

Transitioning to a more green cafeteria is something the school district has been working on since the beginning of the year. Last month, the district began replacing all plastic straws with paper straws. 

The new sustainable lunch packaging will replace 22,000 styrofoam trays, and 2,500 styrofoam takeout containers. 

In August, district officials said they will introduce a new line of sustainable cups.