School canteens and the food waste challenge: Which public initiatives can help?

Abstract

Foodservice is estimated to produce 12% of the total food waste in Europe, and it is a major target for policies against food waste. The amount of food lost during foodservice operations has been assessed in the literature as a figure ranging from 10% to 41% of the quantity prepared in the kitchen, either as non-served food or as plate waste. In this paper, a systematization of the current initiatives against food waste in EU school foodservice is provided. This background is used as a base to discuss the results of a direct assessment of food waste conducted in 78 primary schools in Italy, where 28.6% of the food prepared was not consumed by the diners. Part of it was saved for reuse, while the rest was disposed and treated as organic waste or, to a lesser extent, as unsorted waste. The flows of food waste, represented by a Sankey diagram, show that some actions may be implemented in order to save more food from disposal; for example, implementing donation programmes for non-served food or using doggy bags to avoid the disposal of plate waste. A greater effort shall be put on preventive actions, aimed at avoiding the generation of food waste; in this sense regular monitoring at schools may act as a first preventive measure as it can increase the awareness of students, teachers and foodservice staff over the issue of food waste.

Nutrition quality and food and packaging waste associated with the school food system: A pilot, citizen science study in an Irish secondary school

“…What happens to food waste also varies by country depending on local policy. For example, Pancino et al 25 estimated that most food waste in participating Italian schools were sent to composting or aerobic/anaerobic treatments, whereas this type of facility was not evident in the school that we studied where food waste was assigned to general waste bins intended for landfill or incineration. Lack of school policies to dispose of food waste in a compost or other recycling system is a policy barrier described by others 43 .…”

“…School food systems differ across jurisdictions, with some countries providing national school meal programmes, and others working with a combination of home packed lunches and independently run canteens, shops, and/or vending machines where students can purchase food at school. It is unsurprising, therefore, that wide heterogeneity in food waste measurement methods and estimates are reported across the literature 25,36–38 . In a European context, Malefors et al 37 aimed to establish baseline data for food waste in a variety of institutional settings, including schools.…”

“…For example, individual milk cartons from the school meal programme in the USA are still a major source of waste, 24 whereas many school meal programmes in other countries provide beverages in reusable drinking containers. Some areas around the world have implemented food composting, 25 whereas others still report widespread mixing of organic and non‐organic waste 24 . Addressing food waste at scale in public institutions is essential to meet the ambitious Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 of halving food loss and waste by 2030 which has been adopted by the European Union (EU) members states and many nations globally 26,27…”

Sustainability Recommendations and Practices in School Feeding: A Systematic Review

“…Reducing food waste and controlling non-organic waste represent initiatives that must be implemented in school food services. Studies in different parts of the world have demonstrated that these places are major food waste generators, causing environmental, economic, and social impacts [ 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 ]. Concerning non-organic waste, a study carried out in northern Colorado, USA identified that factors such as the speed of the service line, the quality of food, the cost, and the difficulty managers have in understanding the impact of their decisions at a systemic level, affected the ability to reduce or recover these wastes [ 105 ].…”

Sustainability Recommendations and Practices in School Feeding: A Systematic Review

“…Reducing food waste and controlling non-organic waste represent initiatives that must be implemented in school food services. Studies in different parts of the world have demonstrated that these places are major food waste generators, causing environmental, economic, and social impacts [101, 102, 103, 104]. Concerning non-organic waste, a study carried out in northern Colorado, USA identified that factors such as the speed of the service line, the quality of food, the cost, and the difficulty managers have in understanding the impact of their decisions at a systemic level, affected the ability to reduce or recover these wastes [105].…”