Fruit baskets hanging at the end of the lunchline awaiting unwanted fruit
A previous Powderhorn article explored a student's concern about vegetable waste. At the time of that article, no clear plan was in place to reduce food waste. However, an initiative now exists to better use unwanted fruit. The organizer behind this change is James Priest, an Occupational Course of Study (OCS) teacher at Watauga. You can read the previous Powderhorn article here: Combating Food Waste In The Cafeteria.
“I had similar concerns the student who reached out to you guys had, mostly during breakfast duty and lunch duty that I've had the last four years,” said Priest. “Watching the kids go through the line and just look at the fruit instead of doing anything with it. They're shooting baskets with it in the garbage can.”
More than just one student has noticed the waste being produced at Watauga. As mentioned in the previous article, the Sustainability Club did try to find a solution to this problem. They attempted to encourage school-sponsored composting, but it did not work out.
Priest is a vegetarian, contributing to his desire to make use of these fruits and vegetables. He was interested in pursuing all possible solutions to have a more sustainable school cafeteria.
“I contacted the cafeteria manager, Tabitha Watson, and the lady in charge of all the cafeterias for the whole school system. Her name is Monica Bolick,” said Priest, hoping to “find a community partner that would be willing to take our uneaten fruit.”
The plan Priest developed is called “The Fruit Collection Program in Conjunction with the Hunger and Health Coalition,” or The Fruit Collection Program for short. One day during lunch duty, Priest was talking about his desire to find a use for the uneaten fruit. Mr. Wright, a teacher with the same lunch duty, wanted to partner with Priest to help his plan to reduce food waste. Priest had tried to set this into motion last school year. However, due to leadership changes at Watauga, the project was put on hold until this school year. Bolick shared the protocol that would need to be followed, and Priest felt confident he could adhere to them.
“I got approval from our cafeteria manager, approval from Ms. Bolick, and approval from the principal,” said Priest. “With all this, you think it would go fast now, right? Not so much. [But] around November or December, I had everything lined up at Watauga.”
Priest got in contact with the high school social worker, Jennifer Wandler. He wanted to find a community partner to take the fruit we can collect. Wandler suggested the Hunger and Health Coalition as a partner. Priest was then put in contact with Kayla Lasure, who is the Volunteer Coordinator/Community Partner for the Coalition.
Now it was time to get things up and running in the school while following the guidelines to keep everyone safe.
“It has to be a fresh piece of fruit. It has to have a skin on it, like an apple, orange, banana, pears, that kind of thing,” Priest said. “So we can't take the vegetables that are in the little cups or fruit that might be scooped out into those cups because there's no way to really keep that sanitary.”
While moving forward with those guidelines, Priest began brainstorming the best way to collect fruit and vegetables. For an idea to be successful, many hands make light work. Art students from Ms. Tretheway and Ms. Lowery’s classes made posters advertising the fruit collection program. The ROTC program also contributes by collecting the fruit out of the bins on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Priest's class collects the fruit on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Starting a program is no small task, and it takes so much time and dedication. Priest took on this task, and people joined him and continued to contribute to creating less waste. This project has come full circle thanks to people who are passionate about reducing waste. However, it will also take student involvement to be effective, so if you have a fruit or vegetable you aren’t going to eat, put it in a basket.
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