{"id":602,"date":"2021-12-03T20:08:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T20:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/?page_id=602"},"modified":"2024-04-04T14:41:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T14:41:52","slug":"food-waste-at-schools","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/food-waste-at-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Waste at Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>Addressing Food Insecurity at the Scho<\/strong><strong>ol Level\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-657 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/IMG_6359-1-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"327\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/IMG_6359-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/IMG_6359-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/IMG_6359-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/IMG_6359-1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/IMG_6359-1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that over 38 million Americans, including nearly 12 million children, were living in food insecure households in 2019.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/webdocs\/publications\/99282\/err-275.pdf?v=228.1\">[1]<\/a>\u00a0The issue of food insecurity is\u00a0persistent although 31 percent of the available food supply goes uneaten.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/food\/consumers\/food-loss-and-waste\">[2]\u00a0<\/a> RCE-FW is committed to addressing food insecurity through promoting the redistribution of uneaten food to those who need it. Schools present a unique opportunity to address food insecurity and the inequitable distribution of food.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">The implementation of <strong>share tables<\/strong> in a school cafeteria can assist in addressing food insecurity. Share tables are a USDA-supported technique where a space is designated in the school cafeteria for students to place their unopened, unwanted food. This allows unwanted food to be collected and redistributed rather than getting thrown out. The <span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">food collected on the share table can be given to students who would like to take more f<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">ood, can be repurposed within the school for after-school activities, or can be sent home with students who have been identified as food insecure. <strong>RCE-FW offers trainings on how to set up a successful\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\"><strong>share table with the appropriate safety measures.<\/strong> RCE-FW also facilitates trainings on other interventions to help reduce food waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>Composting at Schools\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-660 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/17A4247D-6335-41CC-A02D-D8675336C324-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"385\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/17A4247D-6335-41CC-A02D-D8675336C324-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/17A4247D-6335-41CC-A02D-D8675336C324-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/17A4247D-6335-41CC-A02D-D8675336C324-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/17A4247D-6335-41CC-A02D-D8675336C324-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/667\/2021\/12\/17A4247D-6335-41CC-A02D-D8675336C324-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 385px) 100vw, 385px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If redistributing unwanted food is not an option, composting should be considered. Composting is an alternative to food ending up in landfills and contributing to greenhouse gases. Composting is the process of allowing food to naturally break down into their mineral components which can be used to create nutrient-rich soils.<a href=\"https:\/\/njaes.rutgers.edu\/fs1331\/\">[3]<\/a> When composting is done properly, the composted material can help improve soil health and water retention, support the growth of more native plants, and decrease the need for fertilizers and pesticides.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/sustainable-management-food\/sustainable-management-food-basics#why\">[4]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>RCE-FW can help guide schools to choosing an appropriate food waste composter<\/strong>. Having an on-site composter at schools presents an opportunity to educate children on composting and allows the school to reduce their food waste.<\/p>\n<p>Learn more about composting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrdc.org\/stories\/composting-101\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><strong>Resources from Rutgers Cooperative Extension:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Rutgers Cooperative Extension created informative videos to educate elementary students on food systems and food waste! You can view these videos in our video library.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a class=\"btn btn-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/video-library\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Video Library<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><b>Are you interested in reducing food waste at your own school?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000\"><b> <a class=\"btn btn-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_9sCGbzZb3nnxjFk\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Click Here to Learn More<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Addressing Food Insecurity at the School Level\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that over 38 million Americans, including nearly 12 million children, were living in food insecure households &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/food-waste-at-schools\/\" class=\"\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2056,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-custom.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-602","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Food Waste at Schools - Cooperative Extension Food Waste Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/food-waste\/food-waste-at-schools\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food Waste at Schools - Cooperative Extension Food Waste Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; 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