Vision

Fisher Branch Collegiate middle years students have been working on becoming more climate aware and making positive changes for our climate. This has been a multi-part project with the scope of this portion specifically on reducing food waste from breakfast program, home economics classes and mealtime waste by composting inedible portions as well as any uneaten leftovers. With the compost soil we create daily we are supplementing our garden with this soil in order to grow fresh fruits and veggies that will be used to teach students cooking skills, add to our breakfast program and provide low-cost healthy lunches on an ongoing basis next school year.
We had noticed in our classes and at mealtimes that there were products going into the garbage that could have been being composted in order to produce nutritious food for students at our school. Therefore we applied to purchase a composter that would run daily and turn fruit and veggie peels, eggshells and food waste into soil that we can later use as fertilizer in our new outdoor garden. Once we have filled 1/4 of our large garbage bin with compost soil we fill the remainder with potting soil and students mix the soil together. We have used this to fill our seed starting cups, pots plants have been transplanted to, outdoor planters and will use this soil in our garden come June.
We will be solving several issues with our project including decreasing the amount of garbage we take to the landfill weekly, decreasing fossil fuel emissions needed to travel far distances to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables, combatting the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables in our community by providing fresh food right outside our school, involving students not only in the land to plate experience but the lifecycle of what could have been garbage but instead created fresh food for us to nourish our bodies with, excite our students in healthy eating by involving them in the process and combatting illnesses and diseases that an unhealthy lifestyle can lead to.
Students chose this project in order to help the climate crisis by educating grades 7-12 on the harms of food waste & benefits of composting. Many grades within our school have gotten on board of supporting this program and we have substantially reduced the amount of garbage taken to our landfill weekly.
Our key goals of our project included:
Reduce the amount of waste going to our landfill daily
Learn and teach others in our school about the breakdown of food waste into dirt that can be reused to grow new food
Reduce emissions from travel to grocery stores to purchase fresh produce as well as emissions needed to transport the produce to the stores we purchase from
Grow nourished healthy bodies and minds by getting kids involved in producing healthy foods
Reconnect with our cultural roots and share our culture with others which in turn gets us excited about cooking and eating healthy foods
Grow our school culture through food and knowledge shared between middle years and high school students – working collaboratively within our school to care for the earth and share food with one another

Action

With the help of Learning for Sustainable Futures our school was able to purchase an electric composter to aid in the quick decomposition of left over foods to help create nutrient dense soil for our garden.
On a daily basis students:
Gather leftover waste from classrooms, the cafeteria and home ec room
Gather yard waste and break it down small enough for our composter to utilize
Fill and layer our bin and begin the cycle in order to create compost soil.
Each morning students check the bin and redo the cycle every day they’re at school.
Students then mix compost soil with potting soil in a large drum and prepare our raised beds with this soil leaving some for once we have tilled our outdoor garden.
Students have planted seeds in cups, grew plants in our greenhouse and will transplant them to our outdoor garden in June.
With our vegetables we grow in our outdoor garden students will learn to cook foods from different cultural cuisines that are prominent at our school including First Nations, Metis, Ukrainian and Filipino. We will teach students to blanch vegetables, canning techniques and other preserving methods as well as cooking or preparing vegetables straight from the garden into many different recipes.
By the initiative to cut down food waste our grades 5-8 students have been able to cut the bags that go to the landfill substantially!

Reflection & Celebration

We diverted 45 kg of organic waste from our landfill and turned it into nutrient dense soil to help supplement our garden soil. This was a massive achievement and substantially reduced the amount of trash taken to the landfill weekly. Other impacts this project had included: educating our 110 students on the benefits of composting and concerns connected to taking waste to the landfill, having a daily impact in the lives of our grade 5, 6 and 8 students who participated in the compost program or where it was integrated into course work by teaching them how to compost and how to grow vegetables from seed. We are incredibly proud of our middle years students for the learning they have done and grateful for the massive impact Learning for Sustainable Futures has had on our school and or students lives.