How to prevent food waste in schools

One in every five kids in the US doesn’t have enough to eat. Meanwhile, school cafeterias toss an estimated 530,000 tons of edible food annually. But there’s good news: Recent WWF-supported audits found that roughly 60% of that wasted food—made up of fruit and unopened milk—could instead be redirected to families in need.

Enter Food Waste Warriors (FWW), a WWF program helping reduce food waste and insecurity at over 600 schools across 31 states. It provides students with age-appropriate education and resources to measure their school’s food waste, understand its environmental impact, and design strategies to reduce it. Since FWW’s launch in 2017, participating schools have cut their food waste by more than 14%, with elementary schools improving the most.

Such programs are a win for everyone: Students learn to take only what they’ll eat; schools save money by ordering appropriately; hungry families achieve greater food access through share tables and redirected food; and everyone reduces emissions by composting food scraps.

During the 2023-2024 school year, Florida schools participating in Food Waste Warriors prevented 3,537.45 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.