Creative Solutions to Address Food Waste: Empowering Students to Take Action

Every school day, students at Winstead Avenue Elementary file into the cafeteria for lunch. As they return to class, uneaten food often gets discarded—but untouched items are now placed in a separate bin labeled “After School Donations.” This inspiring change is thanks to Cindy G., a first-grade Ambassador Teacher from Colombia, who saw an opportunity to address food waste in her school community.

“I was shocked at how much food we throw away each day in the school cafeteria,” she remembers. “In Colombia it’s not commonplace to throw perfectly good food away that isn’t eaten at school. We make it possible for students to take food home, and tell students to only take what you need and know you will eat.”

Connecting Lessons to Real-World Issues

The impact of food insecurity is significant. When students are hungry, they struggle to focus and learn effectively. Cindy wanted to create an initiative that would connect her lessons to real-world issues, deepening student engagement while addressing an important need.

“Every single year you try to do something different for the students, incorporating some culture and worldwide knowledge. But, it’s difficult. There’s so much going on, and you’re not sure what to do or how to do it,” Cindy says. “That’s why I chose to do the fellowship and why it was so helpful—it was a dedicated time to work through how we could incorporate global competencies…into existing projects.”

Getting Started With a Purposeful Project

During the Global Leaders Fellowship, educators like Cindy participate in a six-week professional development program designed to connect global topics with standards-based learning objectives. The fellowship helps teachers create meaningful action projects that engage students in problem-solving and collaboration.

For her project, Cindy focused on food waste and its impact. She began by introducing science lessons about plant growth and food production, laying the foundation for discussions about agriculture and sustainability. Cindy then incorporated social studies topics, exploring the connection between food, culture, and society. Students learned about school lunches worldwide, economic factors that affect food availability, and the environmental impact of waste.

“My students surprised me. They were interested in every touchpoint. What can farmers do? What can students do? What can grocery stores do?”

Student-Led Solutions

Cindy intentionally left the project open-ended, allowing students to contribute their ideas. During a class discussion, her students proposed a simple yet impactful plan: creating a donation box for uneaten food.

“They said to me, ‘We need to save the food we’re not eating. We know some of our friends at school go to after-care school, or go home, or go other places, and they don’t have food. So what if we made a box for students to grab a snack after school?’”

The students presented their idea to the principal in both English and Spanish, demonstrating their enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. With the principal’s support, the class implemented their plan: untouched food from breakfast or lunch could be placed in the box, along with donations from home. Any student in need could take a snack at the end of the day.

Expanding the Impact

Inspired by their initial success, Cindy’s students continued applying their learning to new challenges. They created a bilingual video explaining their project, which they shared with family members and community groups.

“Students were interested in showing the video to their family members or people in their church community outside of school, because they recognized that food waste and energy waste also happen outside of school. They were excited to be YouTubers, and influencers, creating content and sharing information about it.”

“When you hear the name global competencies, you think, what in the world​​—when can I do this? I have no time. I have to teach all these other subjects. But when the project was done I thought, why didn’t I use this before?” Cindy said. “It’s incredibly rewarding and is a lesson I’ll take with me back home to Colombia as I continue my teaching career.”

Empowering Future Leaders

All educators have the potential to shape leaders of tomorrow. By connecting lessons to real-world issues, teachers can inspire students to think critically, solve problems, and make a difference. Learn more about how Participate Learning’s programs can help bring these opportunities to your classroom.