Cafeteria Waste Audit Wellington Elementary School Belmont MA Conducted by the Green Team and the Green Alliance of the Belmont PTA/PTO

Goal of conducting the waste audit To get a clear understanding of what kind of material and how much of it is being discarded in the school waste stream Identify potential solutions to reducing and redirecting the waste Use the data as a tool to convince the school administration to prioritize waste reduction

How did we do it ? We separated the waste as Liquid (leftover milk and juice) Recycle (mostly milk and juice cartons from school lunches and some from home) Compostable Organics (Fruit peels and napkins, but was mostly Left over food, including home lunches, a lot of veggies, and salad provided with the school lunch) UnOpened/UnEaten Food (Mostly apples and carrots served with school lunches, also some milk, yogurt and cheese, some bananas and oranges and some packaged snacks brought from home) Trash (mostly ziplock bags, plastic sling wrap, snack wrappers, juice pouches, half eaten yogurt and such) Trays (stacked) After the lunch session, we weighed each of these every day for a week.

The Elephant in the bag - FOOD WASTE!

Waste Audit Results (Average Per Week) ( Compost (lbs) Unopened/Uneaten Food(lbs) (lbs) (lbs) (lbs) (No. of trays) (About 450 Kids) 200 25 60 120 40 890 (excl. BHS) 1360 170 408 816 272 6052

Consolidated Average Per Year (180 school days) ( Compost Unopened/Uneaten Food Recycle Liquid Trash (No. of trays) (excl. BHS) 24.5 tons 3.1 tons 7.3 tons 14.7 tons 4.9 tons 217872 lbs Trash Bags(Current avg usage)- 6bags/day*5 schools*180 days = 5400 Bags/Year Trash Bags(With Compostable Matter +Trays Stacked- 15bags per day )= 2700 Bags/Year (50% less bags and 50% Waste and Cost Reduction) Trash Bags(Without Compostable Matter +Trays Stacked) = 1800 Bags/Year (10 Bags per day; Using only 33% of the bags- 67% waste reduction)

What’s the take away from this audit? Trash generated in the school cafeteria is about 75% of Compostable matter 10 % UnOpened, Uneaten, perfectly edible food 15% of real trash Conclusion If we practice, Composting Food donations Improved Recycling and liquid pour off, we would send significantly less (at least 85%) trash to landfills or the incinerators. And would benefit the school from the cost savings of fewer trash hauling and fewer trash bags.