We have chosen to look at this aspect of food and sustainable eating because Rupert House believes in not wasting food. Did you know that food waste ends up wasting a quarter of our water supply in the form of uneaten food or over $172 billion in wasted water, when some people have to trek for miles, their feet blistered and heavy, their skin burned from the baking sun, their throat dry and scratchy, just for a sip of water, while we walk a few steps to the fridge?
Some people might think, ‘Why is it so bad to waste food? It isn’t like if we ate it, it wouldn’t help those who don’t have food? So why should we eat it if we don’t feel hungry?’. Well, food waste is bad because the food items that we didn’t consume ourselves had consumed a lot of resources of its own such as water, minerals, nutrients, and lots more! Hence when we don’t eat it completely we are not just letting this food go to waste, we are also throwing away these precious planetary resources with it.
Food waste ends up in a dirty landfill, which takes up space in our planet, when we could have a few cosy cottages there, or an ice cream shop, or a beautiful field or wood full of regal sunflowers, majestically stretching up towards the sun, or bold, brazen, rich bluebells, or sweet, sun-kissed and petite primroses, those little ‘pink ladies’, which they are often known as. When food is disposed in that landfill it rots, and the area around it becomes un unpleasant place to go to or live in because of the stench, and it also becomes a significant source of methane – a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. So if you are walking or biking to school to reduce the fumes that cars give out, or holding bake sales to save the polar bears, also focus on not wasting food.
Rupert House has been doing a lot to prevent food waste. We know to judge how hungry we feel, and ask the chefs for the amount we want, knowing that if we will want more later, we can also go up for seconds! We also have four houses (Everest, Sahara, Amazon, Nile- I think you get the theme!) and each house has a colour, for example Nile has blue and Amazon has green. We have four coloured bins, and each house has its own bin. When we have finished our food, we through our waste into the bin, and whichever house wins that day gets a point. At the end of the term, whichever house has the most points wins this competitive competition!
Over the lockdown, we made bar charts about how much food waste our family wasted in a week on Microsoft Excel, and found ways to cut down on our food wastage, like using the ends of carrots for pesto pasta or to feed the bunnies as a little treat. We also found out that if you have pets, like a dog, that can also help cut down on the food waste. The conclusion for this was because dogs will eat most leftovers. We also made lots of posters to encourage people to try not to waste food!
Thank you for taking your time to read this, and I urge you to try not to waste food. It is such an easy way to help the planet! Good luck
by Sophia Mason
Poster to share ideas on reduction of food-wastage by Molly Walker
by Amberley Richards who monitored food-wastage at home
Another example of food-wastage monitoring by Malika Stubbs