Working to reduce food waste

Local Earth Force group members (left to right) Ari Ocampo, Angel Garcia, Jesus Zepeda worked on a project to reduce food waste at Seth Whitman School.

The Earth Force Club at Boone County Conservation District, along with Seth Whitman Elementary School, is working to reduce food waste going into landfills. As part of this project, the group gave two FoodCycler indoor compost machines to the Seth Whitman fifth-grade science teachers, Austin Busker and Eliana Postigo. They plan to use them throughout each school year to raise awareness and knowledge of food waste and use the resulting organic material in the classroom.

Earth Force is a national youth program that empowers students to get involved with youth-led civic action projects focused on environmental issues in their community. Our local group of students started in September and, after researching several ideas, they decided to work on reducing food waste going into landfills. In one year, food waste sent to landfills fills up as much space as 13 football stadiums and generates methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The FoodCycler will reduce food waste by 90% within a four- to six-hour cycle. The remaining waste is a sterile, odorless organic material that can be used as fertilizer in gardens and flower beds. The group also designed bilingual informational posters and a logo (see above) which was printed on reusable food storage bags that were given to every fifth-grade student.

The Earth Force Group does not meet over the summer but will start up again in September and is open to anyone between the ages of 10-14 years old. Please contact the Boone County Conservation District at 815-547-7935 for more information.