This section of the site includes suggested activities for food waste prevention and reduction for K-12 schools. These materials were developed for the original ISTC Green Lunchroom Challenge project, funded by US EPA Region 5. Please note that although schools may no longer register or receive recognition for completed activities, they may still use the suggested activities to guide their own food waste prevention and reduction efforts.
To see an archived version of the “About the Green Lunchroom Challenge” page from the original web site, click here. You may also view a PDF version of the original project flyer.
To see an archived list of schools that registered for the original Green Lunchroom Challenge program, and the levels of accomplishment they achieved, click here (Participants list).
This section also includes case studies from the project, as well as archived webinars and training materials.
In this section you can also learn more about the Food Waste Reduction Toolkit for Illinois Schools, which was released in April 2020. The toolkit is a project of the Wasted Food Action Alliance and was developed by Seven Generations Ahead in collaboration with partners from the Wasted Food Action Alliance. The Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) Technical Assistance Program (of which the Green Lunchroom Challenge was a project) is proud to have been part of the Wasted Food Action Alliance committee which developed this toolkit.
For additional resources related to food waste prevention and reduction in K-12 schools, please see the “Schools” category of this site’s blog and the “Additional Resources” section of this web site.