How to Reduce Food Waste in Schools

From picky eaters to overordering, there are plenty of ways to create food waste in schools. Luckily, there are also plenty of ways to get rid of this extra food aside from throwing it out. Learn more about getting students and staff involved to help find food waste solutions in your schools.

Minimal Food Waste Solutions

If you’re looking for ways to reduce food waste, there are different techniques you can implement in your schools such as lunchroom plans that include improving meal quality, scheduling recess before lunch for hungrier students and cutting up whole fruits and vegetables to make them more appealing to eat for the younger kids.

More Innovative Ways to Reduce Food Waste in Schools

In addition to these techniques, you may want to take a deeper dive into ways to control and reduce food waste in your schools. Here are some ideas on what you can do with extra food at the end of the day:

• Share Tables – Share tables are a great way to help reduce food waste. Simply set up a table or station monitored by foodservice staff where students can place unwanted food or drinks for other students to take. As long as the food has not been tampered with and is still in its packaging, it can be brought to the share table. The extra food can be presented as an after school care snack, extra lunches and more.


• Involve Students in Lunch Decisions – Conduct student taste testing or let students vote on menu ideas so they can choose something they are more likely to eat. You can even form a recovery team of students to help educate classmates on which foods can be brought to share tables and which should be composted.


• Seat Time – Students should have at least 20 minutes to sit down and eat their lunches. The longer they have to sit down and eat, the less rushed they feel, which means more time to enjoy, and finish, their food.

Food Waste Solutions: Donate Leftovers

The SD Child and Adult Nutrition Services (CANS) Office has a memo in place that can help assist you in creating an action plan for your school’s leftovers. This means putting a policy in the works to ensure staff and students know how to handle their extra food as well as who should be in charge of donating food from the share tables.

If this is too big of a project to jump into right away, consider changing the ordering process or make the switch to disposable containers that will keep food fresher for longer. We can help you find the right equipment in the meantime. If you want to learn more about food waste in schools or how to avoid creating more, read our articles on the foodservice industry.