Progress 06/01/24 to 05/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:At the ground level, the main target audience for this project continues to be teachers and school advocates who have the mindset to run a school food waste diversion, sharing, and composting program and students who are interested in reducing their overall footprint and taking a leadership role. At this juncture with the USDA funding, we have teachers, school nurses, para teachers, and PTA members all contributing to food waste diversion, sharing, and composting programs. We are communicating with school principals and teachers through a variety of means including youth summits, articles in the paper, and meetings with school superintendents and principals on an individual basis. Changes/Problems:The only major changes have been emphasizing composting over industrial uses ( digestion) and spending more time emphasizing the importance of PBL (project based learning) in schools. Students that partipate in these programs become better students through engagement with their school community and learn about their footprint on the environement. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We provide an orientation to students and provide PD (professional development) hours to teacher who are interested in providing PBL (project based learning) to students. As an example, I along with Black Earth Compost (composting service) spent a full day with students at Merrimack Elementary School given 40 min orientations to students and teachers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results have been shared with school principals and superintendents in form of captured stories of student engagement. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to meet with school officials and teachers who are interested in rolling out food waste diversion and composting programs. Also continue to demonstrate the value of school's who participate in this program by showingengaged students who learn about conservation, enviromental stewardship and the imprint they have on their surrondings.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? At this juncture, we have spent 1/8 th of the funding on schools to begin a project related to food waste diversion, food sharing, and composting. We are continuing to follow the EPA's food recovery hierarchy to tackle food waste diversion and reduction. Some original projections in the EPA food recovery hierarchy have been modified. One of the biggest changes has been moving from 60% industrial use / 10% composting to 20 % industrial use / 50% composting. The reason for the change is that there are no anaerobic digesters in NH as opposed to multiple composting facilities within 30 miles of schools. Also, composting is more hands-on and always for better access by schools for field trips. Here is the modified breakdown: 8% source reduction: One of the best ways to do food waste source reduction is to encourage students to "take only what they can eat and eat what you take" and to encourage food sharing of uneaten food. We will continue encouraging schools to save uneaten and have the students practice good habits. 20%: Feed Hungry People: There is a lot of confusion that has emanated out of covid that puts restrictions on what you can share in a school cafeteria setting, In some cases, food (e.g. apples) is wrapped in plastic out of fear of sanitation issues and uneaten food is often thrown away. Due to this confusion, we are seeing less food sharing as a result. If there is a way that the USDA can put out a clear memo that cites the Bill Emerson Food Donation Act that is catered to schools, that would go a long way in getting more schools to feed hungry students. 5% / Feed Animals: We are seeing an uptick in this area as three schools participating send their food scraps to Meadowstone Farm in Bethlehem NH. The food scraps are put into a container and feed to chickens and pigs on the farm. 15%: Industrial Uses: Given that most of the anerobic digesters are located in Maine, New Hamphire and Rhode Island, there are only a few schools (Hollis Elementary and Upper Hollis Elementary) using a digester. 55%: Composting: NH has only compostors VS digesters. As a result, schools ranging from Southern to Northern NH use composting services. Composting is also more accessible and teachable for school children as the concept of taking food scraps and converting them to compost is more understandable as you can more easily describe the concept of microbes' food waste breaking down. We feel strongly that most schools will use this path going forward. Also, the intent is get the costs of diverting food waste converting to compost down below what it costs to send to the landfill. Given the rising costs of tipping fee's, we feel this goal is very achievable with school districts moving toward this direction to save money and teach the students an important lesson.

Publications