Our Haste to Reduce Food Waste
How we can help not only our schools but also our community
A Brief Overview
The California Department of Education has designated Clark Magnet High School as a Green Achiever school . This is in large part due to our Environmental GIS class and the numerous projects that students have done throughout the years. In keeping with our tradition of improving sustainability, this year our team looked at ways our district can improve sustainability in our food services, particularly on the large amounts of food going to waste during snack and lunchtimes. Using numerous tools from the ArcGIS Suite, all provided by Esri, we were able to provide multiple solutions, while collecting and observing data, that would help us combat this ongoing issue.
Food Waste Winding Up
Food waste in America, just like the rest of the world, is a major problem. Studies show that over one-third of the food we produce ends up in the trash. One significant part of this food waste comes from schools. In 2010, Congress passed a law known as the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which stated that school meals must be lower in fat, calories, and sodium, and contain lean proteins, more fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.
After this law was passed, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health was done on exactly how much food is wasted in schools. It was discovered that 60 percent of vegetables and 40 percent of fresh fruits are thrown into the trash due to uninterest. However, there are ways to reduce the amount of food that is being wasted.
U.N. Sustainable Development Goals
The entire basis of this project was built on following the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development. By addressing food waste and creating our solutions to this conflict, we have simultaneously addressed three of the seventeen U.N. sustainable development goals.
2. Zero Hunger
Donating food to homeless shelters prevents malnutrition and starvation among the less fortunate. With schools providing unopened food and fresh produce, fewer people would have to go to bed hungry.
3. Good Health and Well-Being
Food is a vital factor of good health. Giving homeless people the comfort of having a full stomach will help with their well-being, to avert malnourishment.
17. Partnership for the Goals
We are partnering with local food banks and homeless shelters to help bring a surplus of food from schools within the district.
We are also partnering with our school administration, other schools in the district, and district food services administration to fully implement our projects.
How can we combat this issue?
There are a plethora of solutions that can be implemented with varying difficulties. Solutions include reducing the amount of food that school districts purchase, allowing off-campus lunches, and donating any untouched food to homeless shelters.
Reducing the amount of food that is purchased will not be a simple solution as districts have multiple contracts with food distribution companies for a certain amount of product to be put into their schools. A reduction of costs can lead to cutting corners and harsh working conditions to produce food.
Off-campus lunches are a great way to give students the freedom to have a higher-quality and overall better lunch. However, many liabilities arise from this proposal. Many students currently driving have had their licenses for less than a year, and therefore cannot carpool with other classmates. A very damaging liability can arise if any car accident occurs, in which the schools would be responsible for any damages, tarnishing their reputation, and being excluded from outside support.
However, the final option is the easiest to implement and requires little to no additional hassle. In the Glendale Unified School District, there are 28 K-12 schools and seven homeless shelters within the GUSD boundaries. If this were to be implemented, that means that four schools could give to one shelter, which would not only reduce the food waste rate but the amount of malnourishment among the less fortunate. This solution would not benefit the environment; it will help the communities we have lived in for years grow and become better.
We created a map, shown on the left, using ArcGIS Online, that displays all of the GUSD schools, food banks, and homeless shelters within district boundaries.
How can we implement our solution?
In our schools, students often throw away fruits, vegetables, juice, and milk because of a lack of interest. Instead of a garbage bin, boxes will be placed near the lunch lines in which students can place their unwanted food rather than throwing it in a bin like a basketball in a basket. At around 1 p.m., a shelter or food bank representative will travel to their assigned schools and pick up boxes full of nutritious food for many people.
Some people can definitely argue that donating food can lead to unlawful measures. However, the California Good Samaritan Food Donation Act , passed in 2017 by former governor Jerry Brown, protects the schools' rights to donate food that has not exceeded its expiration date. Even if no shelter wishes to participate in our donation routes, we have partnered up with Food Forward . Food Forward's mission is to fight hunger and reduce food waste by collecting fresh produce and donating it all to multiple hunger relief agencies across Southern California. We have communicated with their representatives several times and they have agreed to greenlight our project. With their help, we will be able to make a major difference in our community.
Displayed on the left, is a map created by our team using ArcGIS Online, that represents the Drive-Time Analysis from Food Forward to all the schools in the district. Each drive-time is within 20 to 25-minutes.
What are our results?
By donating to shelters in the district, we have the opportunity to save a tremendous amount of food that would otherwise be sent to landfills. This can really help with the food waste problem glaringly present in our schools and therefore, prevent homeless people from sleeping with an empty stomach. Among the community, even the least fortunate can be healthier physically mentally, and emotionally.
Using ArcGIS Online, our team created a map, shown on the left, that displays the optimal routes from two of our most supportive food banks, including Food Forward, to their two nearest high schools. We soon plan to expand to middle and elementary schools as well.
In Conclusion...
How often can one say they've made a lasting impression on the world during their time spent here on Earth? We hope to see our project serve as an example and become a blueprint for other districts nationwide and beyond!
