Students at two D158 elementary schools become “Food Waste Warriors”

HUNTLEY — Seven Generations Ahead (SGA), an organization that works with local government, community, and private sector leaders to help communities make the changes they need to build a healthy and sustainable future, recently praised the efforts of students of two Huntley Community School District 158 (D158) schools.

Teams of students at Conley Elementary School (750 Dr. John Burkey Drive, Algonquin) and Martin Elementary School (10920 Reed Road, Lake in the Hills) each dedicated a part of a school day back in May to conduct audits, which were part of a collaboration between SGA’s Zero Waste Schools team and the district’s Food Service Director, Richard Reed.

“We are always looking for ways to incorporate sustainable practices that meet the needs of our students, community, and environment,” said Reed.

He went further to explain that because food waste audits are an effective way for schools to identify the most impactful food waste reduction strategies, he felt that the audits would be a great next step for D158.

According to SGA, the audits were conducted as part of the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Food Waste Warriors Project, a program for K-12 schools that provides grants and educational resources to help schools take action on the issue of food waste.

The data collected from D158 will be added to WWF’s national database for food waste in schools.

On the day of each audit, students sorted their leftover school lunch materials into the following categories: share table items, milk/juice waste, fruit and vegetable waste, other food waste, recycling, and landfill trash.

There were also categories for food and liquid waste from lunches brought from home, stated SGA.

“I wish we could do this food separating every day—it was easy,” remarked a student, while they stood in front of a long row of 5-gallon buckets filled to the brim with uneaten lunch food.

As for what the results demonstrated, at Conley Elementary, a school that has about 540 students in third through fifth grade, a total of 236 pounds of lunch materials were sorted and weighed.

It was found that 46% of all lunch materials that were sorted and weighed (109 pounds) were considered wasted food/liquid and another 40% (95 pounds) was food recovered through share tables.

At Martin Elementary, a school that serves about 720 students in grades three through five, a total of 356 pounds of materials were measured.

65% of that lunch material (231 pounds) was wasted food/liquid and another 25% (89 pounds) was food recovered through share tables.

SGA explained that the audit data was also used to support Reed’s plan to introduce recycling and commercial composting to all D158 elementary schools.

“The data collected gives us real measurements to quantify the need to separate our recycling from the landfill,” stated Reed. “Just by taking out the liquids and recyclable cartons, bottles, and boxes we cut our landfill usage in half. This is a great start…commercial composting will cut that landfill amount by approximately another 25%. This is our goal.”

To put this into perspective, if Conley and Martin had share tables, recycling, and commercial composting in place already, 92% and 94% of all lunchroom waste would have been diverted from the landfill, respectively, on the days of their waste audits, according to SGA.

“Share tables are a way for schools to recover and redistribute uneaten items served as part of the school meal, preventing them from being wasted. Eligible items in Huntley 158 include unopened, factory-sealed foods like milk cartons and bags of sliced oranges, as well as whole fruit with a peel,” said representatives for SGA.

Reed added that D158 operated share tables in all five of its elementary schools before the pandemic. The practice was restarted this year at Conley and Martin.

The food waste audits will help Reed demonstrate that share tables are an effective way to prevent food waste and also have the potential to save D158 money.

He stated that he has plans to bring back share tables at all five elementary schools in the district just in time for the next school year.

WWF’s report, Food Waste Warriors: A deep dive into food waste in US schools, found that school districts waste approximately 530,000 tons of food per year nationally (excluding milk).

According to SGA, wasting food wastes the water, energy, and wildlife habitat that went into producing and transporting that food. Food waste also contributes to climate change.

ReFED estimated that uneaten food in K-12 schools contributed to nearly 3 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019.