Close
Food waste has countless negative impacts within environmental and economic spheres, not to mention the ethical problem posed by shortages of food in developing nations. Canon S, a member of Lancing’s Green Group, recently carried out a survey amongst pupils to find out more.
Soon after I joined Lancing in September 2021, I realised that tremendous amounts of food at many of the meals in the Dining Hall were discarded regularly. Although our life at school is hectic and, sometimes, we may end up leaving some food, the average of the food waste we produce in a day, 80kg, still seems far too high and must not be ignored. Food waste has countless negative impacts within environmental and economic spheres, not to mention the ethical problem posed by shortages of food in developing nations whilst we throw ours in the bin. This is thrown into sharp relief by our long-standing relationship with Malawi where food shortages are part of everyday life, whilst leaving food has become something of a ‘norm’ for us here.
To find out more about this problem, I surveyed the school during the Advent Term; the survey showed that at least 13% of the 200 students who responded were unaware that they left food on their plates when they finish. I was struck by the contradiction inherent here, between our wish to help others in need through our charity fundraising on behalf of the people of Malawi, and the amount of food we personally waste.
Motivated by a wish to minimise food waste in our community, I recruited 31 volunteers to take part in a campaign at Lancing. Our ideas range from making portion indication cards to regular posters to highlight the amount of food waste that we are producing and its impacts. The results of the survey and our discussions highlighted the importance of cooperation with the catering team, who have been very keen to address this issue. I will keep working with them and I cannot wait to make a real difference with my team.
Hannah Bond, Lancing’s Head of Catering, commented: ‘For the past couple of years we have been working with Refood, a company which collects our waste and turn it back into energy. Despite this effort and, whilst the statistics look great from an increased energy output and reduction in landfill, the concern remains that we have far too much food waste. We very much welcome discussions with the student body; having Canon championing the need to reduce food waste is fantastic. I truly believe that having a united front to tackle this ongoing issue, we will be paving the way for a more sustainable catering department.
Canon S, Upper Sixth