TIPS TO TACKLE FOOD WASTE AT SCHOOL AND IN HOMES!

Australia has a problem, a food waste problem, with over 7.6 million tonnes of food being wasted each year, costing the economy $36.6 billion. The team at OzHarvest have some suggestions on reducing food waste in your community.

Do a food waste audit

Spend a week measuring how much and what type of food goes to waste Make a note on your phone or keep track of it on the whiteboard in the classroom Decide how you want to reduce this and set a target on what you want to achieve (big goals help!) and how long it should take Get the entire family or school across what you’re doing and why.

Make the most of leftovers

If you have leftovers, you can package them up as meals for the next day – take them to work or pack them for the kids lunches! Stock up on containers, so this can be done easily If you have freezer space, are there cooked meals that can be frozen? This is a great way to reduce any leftovers ending up in the bin! Our Use It Up Tape is a great way to see what leftovers need eating first. Simply label the containers that you need to eat first with the tape, so you don’t waste any meals!

Set up a bin system

Make sure it’s clear what bin is for food scraps, landfill, and recycling Colour coding and clear signage are a must! If your council collects food scraps, make sure you use the green bin, or if you can, set up a compost or worm farm at home or at school. Kids love learning about this so make sure you get them involved!

Tackling lunchbox food waste

Food goes in bellies, not bins! OzHarvest has created a toolkit full of fun ways to fight food waste From lunchbox love letters, and fruit-cutting stations to waste warriors’ awards, or how to set up a waste audit, you will find a range of strategies to get the whole house and school on board. The Fight Food Waste Toolkit is available for free on the OzHarvest FEAST website

Why not take the learning further with FEAST?

OzHarvest’s curriculum-aligned education program, FEAST (Food Education and Sustainability Training) is a great way to inspire kids to eat healthily, waste less and become change-makers in their community

Like any good FEAST, it’s designed to be fun, engaging, and filled with good food! The program is designed for primary and high school students and runs for 7-10 weeks teaching students about food waste, sustainability and nutrition, using hands-on cooking activities in the classroom

The teacher-led program offers professional learning for teachers and can be adapted and changed to suit your school’s needs.

It includes:

Curriculum-aligned resources

20 hot and cold recipes

Teacher training

Ongoing support from the OzHarvest FEAST team

If needed, a kitchen kit and electric frying pans are available to make cooking accessible in the classroom

For a limited time only, OzHarvest has funding available for all schools in WA to sign up for FEAST at no cost. Register your school to find out more at www.ozharvest.org/feast.

It's time to say "thank you " and celebrate all the wonderful work our P&Cs do each and every day.

P&C Day celebrations will take place across WA on Friday 19 May. This event coincides with National Volunteers Week, which is all the more reason to celebrate the positive impact made by amazing P&C volunteers.

A few simple ways schools can get involved include:

Give out P&C ‘Thank You’ cards

Post a P&C Day message on social media to celebrate your P&C members

Organise and host a P&C Day morning tea - make sure none of the P&C volunteers have to arrange anything!

Encourage the school community to celebrate the day and thank P&C members personally

WACSSO, with the Department of Education, will be creating a variety of P&C Day promotional materials to help facilitate celebrations. To access these visit the WACSSO website.