Vision

Our vision was to reduce our carbon footprint as a school by tacking food waste. We noticed that there was a lot of food waste being generated through our breakfast program and student lunches, so the Grade 3 class decided to come up with ways to reduce it. The goal was to infuse technology and knowledge to create a comprehensive program that would have long term, positive benefits for both the environment and our school. It is our hope that by turning the food waste into food for the soil, the plants we grow in our gardens will also produce more food which is used in our universal school breakfast program.

Action

After carefully considering a number of options (take all of your lunch garbage home with you, start a compost pile outside, just don’t waste your food), the Grade 3 class came across the Foodcycler indoor composter! With this countertop piece of technology, food scraps and waste could be turned into garden compost within a school day!
With the LSF grant, the Foodcycler was purchased and excitedly put into action. Students were amazed at how the compost bucket would be full at the start of the cycle, but then by the end of the day, there was barely any food left in it.
A compost bucket has been given to the Grade 3 class, which they use every noon hour and then return to the kitchen to have their lunchtime waste transformed into usable, nutrient rich compost for their school learning gardens.
The breakfast program at Oak Lake Community School is also using the Foodcycler. Fruit and vegetable peels and cores are now diverted from the landfill, to the garden to help grow delicious, fresh produce for students to enjoy.

Reflection & Celebration

Students are super excited to see what would typically end up in the garbage can, be transformed into a useful product. Their next steps will be to teach the entire school about the Foodcycler and give each classroom a compost bin to collect their fruit and veggie scraps at lunchtime.
They also plan to take note of if there is a noticeable difference in the yield of produce grown in the school learning gardens as a result of adding their homemade compost!