Three pilot colleges in the Lozere Department eradicate food waste from the menu

Département de la Lozère
Type of organisation or company
Country
France
City
Mende
Language for original content
Key Area
Project elaborated in partnership
No
Scope
Submitted by
Council of European Municipalities and Regions
Start/End date
Ongoing
Yes
Type of funding
Departement of Lozère
Description

At the end of 2014, the Lozere Department engaged in a territorial plan of waste prevention.

Among the different actions, the Department has implemented an action in three pilot colleges to fight food waste in the canteens. The ambitious and transversal program involved actors at all levels in the college: director, manager, kitchen team, teachers, students and their parents.

The action phases:

  • creation of a project team and a referent by the college
  • diagnosis of waste in each institution and for all categories of waste produced
  • analysis of the results, including already existing kitchens personnel practices to reduce food waste
  • identification and choice of actions, different for each institution
  • follow-up of the implementation of the actions.

In practice, the actions implemented in the three pilot colleges addressed:

  • awareness of students in the social, environmental, and food waste
  • economic impact the involvement of students in the development of the menus and the adjustment of quantities (for example with a tailor-made "hungry" or "great hunger" system)
  • immediate reinvestment  'on the plate' with better quality and locally sourced food.
Main results

The action conducted in the pilot colleges allowed to draw the following conclusions, leading to a more systematic way of further implement this commitment at Departmental level:

- actors of the operation agree on the importance of appointing a referent or a team in each institution to continue the actions taken and organize a minimum 1-2 weight evaluation of waste per year, with a double aim of awareness and keeping track of indicators.
-Awareness of teams and students must be sustained in the long term, for instance with yearly animations (at least during a weigh-in) to maintain interest.
-Ideally, the fight against food waste should be included in the college governance program (duration 3 years), to mobilize all the actors