Why 56,000 Pune children are saying no to plastic tiffins

Involving 56,000 students, the Steel Tiffin Pledge is an initiative of the Centre for Sustainable Development, based at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. The campaign aims to reduce waste at source by keeping plastic — particularly microplastic-leaching materials — away from children’s food and water.

“The steel tiffin has been adopted as a symbol of individual action leading to collective impact,” says Aditi Deodhar, who is spearheading the campaign. The pledge is part of Mission City Chakra, which “turns off the tap on waste in the city by empowering intermediate policymakers to implement waste reduction measures at a scale”. “For school principals, the health of children is an immediate priority, so they readily come on board,” Deodhar says.

Vanaz Parivar Vidya Mandir in Kothrud was among the earliest adopters, implementing the practice as part of a pilot project in 2024. “I approached our school’s society, which immediately gave us the green light. On Republic Day, our committee members, the children of the school, teachers and many parents took the oath,” says Anita Darwatkar, Principal, Vanaz Parivar Vidya Mandir.

The school later held a parent-teacher meeting to discuss the initiative. “Some parents said, ‘Madam, yeh steel to bahut mehenga hota hai aur phir bachche guma dete hain (Madam, steel is very expensive and children also lose the boxes),’” Darwatkar recalls. To address this, the school introduced a day when all tiffin boxes found on campus were displayed for children to claim. Darwatkar also explained to parents the greater health cost of exposing children to microplastics in food.

Ask any pupil about plastic and the response is immediate: “Microplastics cause many diseases, including cancer”.
Jay Avinash Mohol, a Class V student, says, “Plastic ka dabbha lane se log bimar padte hain isliye aap sabko steel ka dabbha istemal karna chahiye (If people use plastic tiffins, they fall ill, so we should use steel).” Ayush Gaekwad, also in Class V, has urged his parents to reduce plastic use. Anushree Ugalmogale has switched from plastic to steel for both her tiffin box and water bottle. Ali Rahim Sheikh, a Class IV student, says his chapati and bhaji stay fresh in a steel box.

Some children point out that steel tiffins leak, so they wrap them carefully to protect their books. The school — which has won an award from a social organisation for becoming plastic-free — has achieved 100 per cent participation, with all 680 students carrying only steel tiffin boxes.

The problem of plastic waste is well documented. According to the United Nations, “Every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers, and lakes. Every year 19–23 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems, polluting lakes, rivers and seas. Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production capabilities and social well-being,” states the United Nations Environment Programme.

Plastic tiffin boxes, however, remained an invisible source of pollution even among environmentally conscious families who carry cloth bags. “We realise that policymakers exist at various levels in society. Rather than reaching out to Mumbai or Delhi for change, we can reach out to these policymakers — and one such policymaker is the school principal,” says Deodhar. “From ages five to 15, every single day, children eat lunch from plastic tiffin boxes and drink water from plastic bottles. We appealed to principals that, just like schools have uniforms, they should have mandatory steel tiffin boxes and steel bottles.”

The programme began as a pilot with three school principals whom Deodhar knew through her work with Jeevitnadi, an organisation that works for river rights. This February’s pledge marks a commitment to the mission for the new academic year.

At LS Jadabai English School in Katraj, principal Vaishali Mohite has long spoken to students about the dangers of plastic tiffin boxes. “In summer, as the days become warm, the plastic also turns hot. It enters their food and their bodies, thus endangering their health,” she says. All 850 students at the school have now pledged not to use plastic tiffin boxes or plastic water bottles.

Srihari Suthamally, a software engineer whose daughters, aged 15 and nine, study at DriveChange Learning and Resource Centre, supports the initiative. An alumnus of the Ecological Society, he already follows the principles of refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle. The family uses steel tiffin boxes even when buying idli or poha outside.

“Both my daughters carry two boxes each. We pack chapati and dal, and as South Indians, we eat a lot of rice — lemon rice, coconut rice and curd rice. For breakfast, we give them dry snacks or sandwiches. The food is not too hot and the tiffin boxes are suitable,” he says.

After conducting 200 sessions with students, Deodhar says adults often underestimate children. “Parents think children want colourful or cartoon tiffin boxes. When we actually talk to children, I tell them the story of the river and the challenges we face. They understand that plastic is the issue because it is rampant in rivers. We agree that plastic is a problem because it doesn’t decompose and degrades into microplastic. Then comes a commitment from children to use steel utensils because this is in their control. Awareness now flows from children to parents — that is our observation,” she says.