Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is the third largest school district in the United States with 499 schools and more than 335,000 students. The district's minority enrollment is 92%. Of these students, about 57.1% of students are economically disadvantaged and are eligible to participate in the federal free and reduced-price meal program. Since 2019, the M-DCPS School Board has passed multiple resolutions to expand food share cart programming, implement cafeteria composting, and reduce single use plastics. The biggest hurdle to these operational changes are budgeting and staffing limitations. Accordingly, this proposed pilot program will engage subject experts from the community to expand on a four-school Parent Teacher Association (PTA) pilot program that has successfully leveraged student, teacher and parent volunteers to execute on back of kitchen composting, food share cart maintenance, food waste audits and educational outreach.The nine (9) proposed schools are located within a 5-15-minute commute of the University of Miami (UM), which seeks to place its undergraduate students into internship programs, including programs that align with its robust sustainability commitments. UM is a top 50 Green College, has a "GreenU" program, a food pantry, cafeteria composting, and a reusable take away system. Of the nine (9) selected M-DCPS pilot schools, half have motivated "green teams" and a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Green School designation.The location of the pilot schools will facilitate student volunteer collaboration and access to subject matter experts to provide quality control, rapid response trouble shooting, and accurate data collection around waste diversion efforts. Accurately quantifying waste diversion is vital to demonstrating the business case for expanding food share carts and cafeteria composting and to showing that these efforts can be revenue neutral and replicated across all M-DCPS schools, a Composting and Food Waste (CFWR) priority.M-DCPS serves more than 40 million meals per year, or approximately 220,000 meals per day (including both breakfast and lunch). In the United States, about 40% of cafeteria food is wasted (this number is higher in Miami-Dade County Schools), costing millions of dollars every day. The need for a food recovery and compost program is readily apparent. Data collected by five food waste audits in the last two years shows that much of dumpster components consist of wrapped recoverable food and/or food scraps. M-DCPS has a goal to reduce landfill waste by as much as possible (at least 40%) through food recovery and a food composting program, involving several partners, which is another CFWR priority.This grant proposal will illustrate the need and potential of these programs and will show that they can be adopted district-wide following a two-year food recovery and composting program with nine (9) schools. These participating schools are found in zip codes 33133, 33134, 33146, and 33155, all in predominantly suburban and urban areas. All the students in this pilot program would benefit from this program both through food waste education and the physical results of reduced waste and reduced methane production from landfills, which is a CFWR priority. If awarded, this grant will fund the two-year pilot and its results will prove the sustainability of these programs to the district and will later be adopted as a general fund item, meaning by 2035 all schools will have a food recovery and compost program.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
The major goals of the Waste to Wonder program, align with the EPA's Wasted Food Scale, and are as follows:1) Prevent food waste from reaching landfills and contributing to production of methane gas by using the Shared Table Program.2) Reduce food insecurity and waste byimplementing 'back-of-kitchen' composting stations and perform annual food waste audits.3) Promoteeducationalcampaigns for students and stakeholders that support food waste reduction and food insecurities.
Project Methods
The methods for the Waste to Wonder Program are based on the three (3) project goals:1) Prevent food waste from reaching landfills and contributing to production of methane gas - Food will be stopped from reaching landfills through the initiation of the ShareTableProgram in partnership with the Food Rescue US - South Florida nonprofit organization. Designated tables will be placed in the school cafeterias to allow students to place unopened, non-perishable food items that they did not plan to eat on the share cart. This includessnacks, cereal boxes and whole fruits. Students who needed a little extra can take what they need, ensuring that they do not gohungry, and that good food does not go to waste. Additionally, each school will be outfitted with mini fridges for the Share Table Program, so that unused perishable food items can be preservedfrom spoiling and last for longer periods.At the end of each week, Food Rescue US - South Florida volunteers will collectany remaining food from the Share Table Programand delivered it to local social service agencies, extending the circle of sharing and support to the wider community.Three (3) of the nine (9) schools will be given bulk milk dispensers, thatoffer schools a practical pathway to reduce milk consumption waste andreduce paperboard milk carton waste from entering landfills, which inevitably reduces greenhouse gas emissionsand energyuse. These milk dispensers also allow students to determine the amount of milk they want to consume thereby reducing individual waste and utilizes a sustainable reusable cup system to dispensed milk.2) Reduce food insecurity and waste by implementing 'back-of-kitchen' composting stationsand perform annual food waste audits - Local Parent, Teacher, Student Associations (PTA & PTSA groups) will act as liaisons to school administrators, teachers, cafeteria staff and create back of kitchen composting stations. Each school will have a drop-off station for family composting, to encourage students' families to participate in reduction of food waste. These 9 stations will be made 30 cubic yard dumpsters that are monitored and emptied by Renuable,a full-service composting company, whichwill be contracted for the duration of the project. Renuable will pick up food that has been sorted into compost bins on a regular (weekly or twice-weekly) basis as part of their contract with M-DCPS. Costs are based on student population and relative predicted amounts of waste produced and this process will divert thosands of pounds of compostable material from entering landfills.To capture the food waste generated in the cafeteria, each school will have large 5-gallon bins inside the cafeterias located by their current trash and recycling containers (the number of bins will vary depending on the size of the school), provided by Renuable. These back-of-kitchen bins will be emptied throughout the day into the larger 64-gallon containers outside the building, and volunteers will replace the liner each time. The compostable liners for these 5-gallon bins are included in the contracted service. Renuable and volunteers will help train cafeteria staff on the importance of how and why to compost and monitorthe dumpsters.Renuable will also conduct food waste audits annually to determine how effective the composting and ShareTable programs are performing in each school.3) Promoteeducationalcampaigns for students and stakeholders that support food waste reduction and food insecurities - Student volunteers and Renuable staff will help to educate schools on how to sort food scraps andthe importance of food waste reduction/composting.In addition, students will lead outreach efforts in these schools by developing educational materials that improve students' and staffs' composting and food recovery awareness.A community drop off station will be providedduring the Coral Gables Farmer's Market in the winter months to reinforce what these students are learning in their local schools and create a greater cultural shift to see food waste as a value.Students will encourage their peers to put unconsumed food items in the share cart, direct students to tap and stack their compostable trays and ensure that back of kitchen compost includes only biodegradable items. Students will educate their peers on how to be part of the climate solution while saving hundreds of dollars a year by reducing food waste.