School lunchboxes as an opportunity for health and environmental considerations: a scoping review

Very little research has focussed on children's school lunchboxes from both a health and environment standpoint. This scoping review explores studies that considered children's lunchbox food consumption trends at school and the environmental impacts of lunchbox contents. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature with a focus on lunchboxes of children in preschool or primary school settings that contained food packed from home, through the lens of food and nutrition in combination with environmental outcomes-particularly food and/or packaging waste. The review included 10 studies, with articles from Australia, USA, Spain, New Zealand and the UK. Half of them were intervention studies aiming to shift knowledge levels and attitudes of teachers, parents and children with regard to reducing packaged food choices and food waste, and improving dietary habits. Acknowledging the complexity of lunchbox packing and consumption practices, this review recommends the consideration of socio-ecological influences on children's health and sustainability behaviour, and mobilizing their pro-environmental agency. Lay Summary School food environments play a key role in children's health and behaviour development. However, there are environmental implications of school food and this is not often considered in conjunction with schoolchildren's health based on their food consumption patterns. While wider environmental impacts of school food provision models have been studied, the more immediate and child-relevant outcomes (such as food and packaging waste) are also worth considering, especially in the context of school lunchboxes. This scoping review explored the existing literature for studies that focussed on school children's lunchbox contents and considered health attributes along with packaging and waste characteristics. Results from this review of 10 articles, which also describes the five interventions identified, pointed towards the merit of tapping into children's agency of change while also recognizing socio-ecological influences to drive sustainability practices for health co-benefits. The interconnectedness of nutritional quality and sustainability characteristics of school lunchboxes is an understudied phenomenon, but one with promising potential to promote and improve public health and planetary wellbeing.