DENVER — The Colorado nonprofit We Don’t Waste says 40% of all food ends up in landfills. On Thursday, the organization visited St. Mary’s Academy in Denver to teach middle schoolers how to reduce food waste.
We Don’t Waste takes edible food that restaurants, grocery stores and farms would otherwise throw away and instead gives it to nonprofit partners like food banks.
Hear what students told Denver7's Nicole Brady they took away from the service learning day with the nonprofit, in the video player below:
At St. Mary’s Academy, students are encouraged only to take what they’ll eat from the cafeteria. Director of Loretto Projects and Community Engagement Christina Garcia said We Don't Waste did a food audit at the school.
"Our students compost, they recycle,” Garcia said.
St. Mary's Academy is not the only school in the Denver metro area working to be more environmentally conscious. A group of students at Asbury Elementary as taken on the responsibility of sorting food waste into recycling, compost, and landfill bins when their fellow students are finished with their lunches.
Education
Students lead the way in tackling food waste at Denver's Asbury Elementary
Colorado lawmakers are currently considering two bills in the state legislature to address food waste.
HB25-1059 encourages all schools to adopt a food waste reduction policy and provides some protection to schools that have food redistribution programs like share tables. That's where students are permitted to return unopened or eat food and drinks for redistribution to other students or donation to local nonprofits.
HB25-1166 also addresses donated food and encourages grocery stores to use "best if used or frozen by" dates rather than "sell by" dates for prepared items of food.
The bill states would require the department of public health and environment, to the extent that funding is available, to provide annual training on food waste prevention and reduction strategies, develop a food waste reduction guidance document on the department's public website and update it annually.
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