Calling all food waste warriors in high schools and universities
worldwide - fight food waste and compete for thousands of dollars of
prizes! Your challenge: uncover how much food gets wasted in your
schools, organize a team and take action to reduce food waste!
It’s been a while now since we started telling you about the
outrageous amount of food that is wasted or lost across the world. We
don’t want to be annoying but some things need to be said and repeated:
ONE THIRD of all the food produced worldwide is WASTED.
Check out your pantry or your fridge and imagine just throwing away
one third of all the food that is in there. Imagine throwing away one
third of the food in your shopping cart after paying for it. Or picture
all those lunch trays at your school and imagine one third of them
being WASTED.
Hard to believe, huh? But it is a fact.
A shocking one, we know. Food waste is a massive global problem that
has negative humanitarian, environmental and financial implications and
schools are a huge part of this story. In England, schools throw out
some 123,000 tonnes of food a year, costing around £250 million a
year. If you’re an American student, you are responsible for 67 pounds
of discarded lunch waste every school year. On campuses in Los Angeles -
unified, the second-largest school system in the US -, students throw
out at least $100,000 worth of food a day.
The solution is in our hands. With a few simple changes to our habits,
we can significantly shift this paradigm. More than that, we can pass
this idea forward and create a movement of students tackling food
wastes in their schools and universities.
Three winning projects will be selected based on:
Creativity - what new ideas and approaches were employed by the students in addressing the issue of food waste (30%)
Effectiveness - what results were accomplished e.g. how much food waste was reduced or what measures were adopted by the school to reduce food waste, and what plans are there to ensure the longevity of these reductions/new ideas (40%)
Reach - what was the level of interest and support generated; how many students participated in the activities? Were teachers, cafeteria staff, parents and families actively engaged? How much social media engagement was employed (30%)
1st Prize - US $5,000
2nd Prize - US $3,000
3rd Prize - US $2,000
Creativity - what new ideas and approaches were employed by the students in addressing the issue of food waste (30%)
Effectiveness - what results were accomplished e.g. how much food waste was reduced or what measures were adopted by the school to reduce food waste, and what plans are there to ensure the longevity of these reductions/new ideas (40%)
Reach - what was the level of interest and support generated; how many students participated in the activities? Were teachers, cafeteria staff, parents and families actively engaged? How much social media engagement was employed (30%)
1st Prize - US $5,000
2nd Prize - US $3,000
3rd Prize - US $2,000
Entry into the Think.Eat.Save. Student Challenge is subject to the acceptance of these terms and conditions.
1. This competition is open to all students at the secondary and university levels from any school worldwide.
2. To participate, students must undertake an activity or a project that will address any of the following:
1. This competition is open to all students at the secondary and university levels from any school worldwide.
2. To participate, students must undertake an activity or a project that will address any of the following:
- Assess the level of food waste that is generated by the school and identify/understand the causes of this.
- Generate an idea or ideas for eliminating or reducing food waste in their schools (for example, better planning, preparation, storage, consumption of the food in their cafeterias; recycling or redistribution of left-overs; etc.) and undertaking a project to implement at least one of these.
- Raise awareness in their schools or communities on the issue of food waste and why it should be reduced and eventually eliminated.
