Cafeteria Waste Reduction Team
Team Members:
John Bateman, Nima Tholyil, Siri Kovi, Kamorah Lake, Sam Hart, Lila Wagner, Chelsea Prasad, Jo Ritter West, Kiara Burnside, Olive Nye
Schools Represented (On the Team):
Portland – Westview High School, Cleveland High School, Lake Oswego High School, Early College High School
Bend – Bend High School
Corvallis – Corvallis High School
Eugene – Network Charter School, Willamette High School
Salem – West Salem High School, North Salem High School
Ashland – Ashland High
Contact:
info@ourfutureoregon.org
Introduction
Food waste is rarely the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the causes of climate change, even though the carbon footprint of food waste is actually larger than the one produced by the airline industry. Our Future’s cafeteria waste reduction team is trying to reduce the impact by implementing tiers of action plans and systems that help to minimize cafeteria food waste in schools across Oregon.
Our Work
Our Goal: To reduce the amount of food waste in every school statewide and implement more sustainable materials in cafeterias and kitchens.
Tiers: Start with education and basic composting, then when schools are ready, moving into industrial composting and switching from disposables to reusable dishes is the priority. The team has been creating templates for different tiers that will help each school, depending on their current school situation (specific to the level of already implemented programs) take the necessary steps toward their school cafeteria’s waste reduction.