Students save 483 pounds of food waste in one week

BARRINGTON, Ill. — School cafeterias throughout Barrington have the potential to throw hundreds of pounds of food waste into landfills every week. However, District 220 students have become more aware.

With the help of a few community members, students are on a mission to reduce the surprising amount of food going from the schools into local landfills.

During Earth Week last month, Prairie Middle School collected all its cafeteria food waste — an incredible 483 pounds — which was then taken to Midwest Organics in Wauconda to be composted rather than being dumped into a landfill.

"It was just an eye-opener about how much perfectly good food goes to waste," said Jennifer Kainz, a member of the Prairie PTO Environmental Committee, which helped coordinate the effort.

Composting is a process in which edible and non-edible waste restores vitality to depleted soil by breaking food and other waste down into nitrogen and carbon, thus creating a nutrient-rich habitat in which more food can be grown.

"It's important to close the loop in the food cycle," said Kainz. "I think it's fantastic going into the growing and gardening season."

Because Groot Industries, the district's waste hauler, does not offer composting services, Lake Barrington-based Prairieland Disposal donated their services during Earth Week.

"We supplied the containers and separated the food," explained Mary Schweinsberg, owner of Prairieland. "The effective goal was to divert this from the landfill and see how much food was wasted."

Schweinsberg also said since an ongoing composting effort in the district would be very costly due to the expense of vehicles and personnel, the goal of the Earth Week composting at Prairie was to teach the students how to compost waste at home and be stewards for environmental responsibility.

"We live in such a throwaway world," she said. "The goal is to have the next generation start out like this."

According to students, that goal of raising awareness was achieved.

"Earth Week for me was a time when everybody was aware and understood what happens when we throw our food away," said Lilly Carey, an eighth-grader at Prairie Middle School. "It was an incredible experience not only for me but for everybody else at Prairie. It really got me thinking about how we need to be more aware of our food and how we deal with our environment. It was a really helpful lesson that we can bring to our society to help in the future."