1st Place, Staff Editorial
2022-23, Division 4, News Writing
By Staff
The Cougar Crier
Annapolis HS
Food is such a large part of people’s lives so favorite flavors, allergies, and food preferences
tend to take over mealtimes. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meals in public schools must meet nutritional guidelines in order to be served within a specific meal program. These rules match school food with the latest nutrition science, trying to find the best ways to incorporate healthy options in students’ daily lives.
However, when schools force students to take a fruit or vegetable side, parts of the nutritionally balanced meal tend to get thrown away. What impact does this have on schools? According to a Penn State University study, plate waste in American schools amounts from 27% to 53% of the original meal. All one has to do to see this problem firsthand is visit the cafeteria during lunch. Food waste is a major problem at AHS, and there are better ways to manage it than merely throwing away perfectly good food.
The World Wildlife Foundation studied forty-six schools in nine cities over eight states and found that nationwide food waste from schools alone could be up to 530,000 tons of waste. The WWF also says that along with the 530k tons of food waste per year, it can cost as much as $9.7 million per day to address, which ends up at about 39.2 pounds of food waste and 19.4 gallons of milk disposed of per school per year.
What is the issue with food waste anyway? Well to start off, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the majority of that uneaten food could be given to those who do not have the ability to purchase or grow their own food. It is estimated that one third of food that was made for eating is disposed of, along with the re- sources used in that process also being wasted. Food waste also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the U.S. Environmental Agency, food is the one thing that is most tossed in landfills. As it sits there, it produces methane. Methane is
a greenhouse gas that, per the UN Environmental Programme, is 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide over a 20 year span, and is therefore more harmful to our atmosphere.
It is not just food waste at Annapolis that impacts our environment. Non-eco-friendly disposable trays have their fair share of negatives as well.
The Annapolis cafeteria staff serves 450 meals a day, all on styrofoam lunch trays. Said lunch trays take 500 years to break down. The school spends approximately $4,860 per year for these styrofoam lunch trays, while a better option lies in wait to
help reduce negative waste at AHS. Contrary to the styrofoam trays, paper boats take two to six weeks to decompose. The paper boats combined with reusable flat trays offer a much more environmentally friendly option for Annapolis.
Two students in the AHS Leadership class are pushing for a change regarding waste production at Annapolis. The two students, senior Emma Arm and junior Sofia Benavides-Colón, are asking for reusable lunch trays and paper boats as an alternative to the styrofoam trays Annapolis currently uses. Benavides-Colón, says by switching over to a community table where kids have the chance to put their prepackaged leftover fruits, vegetables and milks so students can come in and grab them if necessary. This will help cut down the number of fresh foods ending up in the trash.
Some students receive their only meal at school. According to the School Nutrition Association, one in seven children in America live in homes without consistent and sufficient meals. Some students may need to bring home food from school in order to eat outside of school. Along with tray changes, Arm and Benavides-Colon want to implement a “One More Meal” program. This would allow extra uneaten food to be packaged and offered to students to take home.
Hopefully the future of Annapolis is a much greener one. With all the evidence showing the problems with unnecessary food waste, and some alternative and more environmentally friendly options that are almost ready to be set in place, Annapolis could possibly change for the better, while combating food insecurity, and even saving money. It’s a step in the right direction.
NW-06. Staff Editorial
Staff editorials should represent the opinion of the staff, editors or editorial board on a timely news matter of concern to the school, community, state, nation or world. They may express appreciation, offer interpretation or attempt to deal with problems. Editorials are not to be bylined, signed or initialed, or in any way identified as being the opinion of the writer(s). Submit a PDF of the print page(s) on which the story was published or the URL to the story on an online news site.
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