FOOD WASTE WARRIORS

The Food Waste Warriors project analyzed plate waste in 46 US schools, finding that students waste an average of 39.2 pounds of food and 28.7 cartons of milk per year. The study highlights the significant environmental and financial costs of this waste, estimating a national impact of 530,000 tons of food waste and 45 million gallons of milk waste annually. Results indicate that simple interventions and awareness can reduce waste, with elementary schools seeing a 14.5% reduction. The report recommends policy reforms to National School Lunch Program (NSLP) portion sizes and the adoption of bulk milk dispensers to mitigate these losses.

• Across the 46 participating schools, the average student produced approximately 39.2 pounds of food waste and 28.7 cartons of milk waste per year.
• The project demonstrated that informal interventions and measurement can lead to waste reduction, with elementary schools averaging a 14.5% decrease and the overall group recording a 3% reduction in food waste.
• Extrapolating from the sample to all schools in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), national food waste (excluding milk) is estimated at 530,000 tons per year, which corresponds to 1.9 million MTCO2e of embedded greenhouse gases and 20.9 billion gallons of embedded water.
• National milk waste in schools is estimated at 45 million gallons per year, representing a financial loss of $138 million and the emission of 361,000 MTCO2e.
• The use of bulk milk dispensers significantly reduces waste compared to cartons; dispenser milk waste was 4.5 cartons per student per year, while carton milk waste was over 32 cartons per student per year.
• There is significant confusion among school staff regarding the 'Offer Versus Serve' (OVS) provision, often leading to students taking items they do not intend to eat because staff believe milk or other items are mandatory for reimbursement.
• Food waste levels generally decrease as students get older, though this may be influenced by factors such as lunch period length and portion sizes.
• The report estimates that combined daily food waste across all NSLP schools could cost up to $9.7 million per day, or $1.7 billion per school year.
• A primary barrier to implementing waste reduction programs is the lack of time and the fact that waste management is not typically an ingrained job responsibility for teachers.
• The use of reusable trays was qualitatively linked to a reduction in landfill waste compared to the use of Styrofoam trays.

APA

WWF International (2019). FOOD WASTE WARRIORS. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1734/FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf

Chicago

WWF International. FOOD WASTE WARRIORS. 2019. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1734/FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF International |title=FOOD WASTE WARRIORS |date=2019 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1734/FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfinternational2019food, author = {{WWF International}}, title = {{FOOD WASTE WARRIORS}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2019}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1734/FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }