P2 Alphabet Soup - One School's Effort to Reduce Food Waste

Abstract

Objective To determine the amount of food saved within two food waste reduction programs at an elementary school. Use of Theory or Research Food waste has many contributors: individuals, industry, grocery stores, restaurants and schools. A 2018, USDA study estimated the average person wastes 300 pounds of food a year in the US alone, equating to 150,000 tons of food, enough to feed two billion people. Schools waste 270,000 metric tons of food annually. Changes to the National School Nutrition Program has brought more fruits and vegetables into schools making it imperative to manage the waste from preparation and leftovers. Target Audience Food Service Managers Program Description A rural Ohio community of 7,212 people with a school district feeding 720 students daily in grades kindergarten through 12th grade with a 25% participation rate in free and reduced lunch. The kitchen, providing lunch for three school buildings, currently runs two food waste programs. Program one focuses on food scraps given to a local pig farmer; waste that cannot be served including the ends of vegetables and fruits. Program two focuses on leftover vegetables and grains from the school lunch service. Leftovers collected over the week are made into a vegetable soup that is served with the lunch on Fridays. The soup is offered to students and members of the school community including teachers, staff and visitors at no cost. Evaluation Methods Leftover vegetables and grains were collected and weight recorded daily for four school days for the vegetable soup. Food scraps were collected and weighed daily for five school days. Amounts were totaled. Results Food waste collection yielded 221.5 pounds or an average of 55.4 pounds a day of leftover vegetables and grains used in the vegetable soup. Food scraps program provided a total of 90.2 pounds or 18 pounds of feed daily for local pigs. Conclusions Food scraps and food saving programs work to reduce food waste. Utilizing leftover food may be a way to turn food waste back into edible food for people and/or animals. School kitchen was able to save over 250 pounds of food from the trash in one week. Funding None.