Dublin City Council is tackling the issue of food waste in secondary schools and households.
Working with home economics classes in a pilot number of up to five schools, the local authority is implementing the Stop Food Waste Challenge template to introduce the idea of food waste prevention in home economics class and at home to 15/16 year olds.
The project has two strands:
- How much food waste does the home economics classroom generate and where can savings be made
- How much food waste do the students homes generate and where can savings be made – students are being given kitchen caddies, caddy liners and asked to record the amount of food waste generated in the homes over the course of a week (or possibly a month).
Working with one class per school (approx 30 students) over a period of 4 to 6 weeks, students are being asked to measure food waste generated at home and during home economics class.
Before bringing the project home a parents evening has informed them of the Stop Food Waste Challenge.
This not only raises awareness for the students, but also the parents (who are the main purchasers and preparers of food for the households). This builds upon the great successes of the Stop Food Waste Challenges in several other local authorities around Ireland.
The results of the activities will be published when the project is completed.