2026 Food Waste Warriors Fall Campaign
Events calendar
© WWF-US / Rebecca Drobis
This fall WWF’s Food Waste Warriors program is leading the charge to reduce food waste in schools. Working with partners across the country, we are organizing public events to increase awareness of this key issue, providing enhanced guidance on food waste reduction methods, and highlighting the extraordinary role that students and teachers play in making change happen. We invite everyone—schools, community groups, and the public—to join us in this collective effort to reduce waste and empower a new generation of environmental leaders.
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Release of Ending Wasted Food in K–12 Schools
Our new report details the impact and potential of Food Waste Warriors for teachers and administrators to help students understand the importance of food and how to avoid wasting it. Since 2019, more than 1,000 schools have adopted Food Waste Warriors curricula, resulting in food waste reductions of up to 70% per school.
The report also launches a national ambition to end wasted food in K–12 schools within a generation. Accomplishing this requires three principal activities: engaging students through annual cafeteria education, expanding edible food recovery strategies in schools—like share tables and refrigerators—and ensuring unavoidable food scraps never go to landfills. In addition, Ending Waste Food includes first-hand accounts from teachers and administrators who have successfully adopted Food Waste Warriors curriculum.
Read the report
Monday, Sept. 28–Sunday, Oct. 4
Food Waste Prevention Week
During National Food Waste Prevention Week, partner groups across the country will be organizing events to increase awareness of food loss, promote a healthier environment, and save families money. This year’s theme, Food Heroes in Your Neighborhood, spotlights the local people and organizations working for positive change.
Food Waste Warriors will be active on social media during the week, and we ask you to join us. Our social media toolkit includes suggested messages, engaging graphics, and an inspiring video to share on your social channels. We’ll also be publishing an article online highlighting the work of two food heroes (more below).
__________
Monday, Sept. 28
Food Education in Action Week with Pilot Light
6 p.m. EST
Pilot Light and WWF have teamed up this year to produce a collection of expertly crafted Food Education resources, activities, and lesson plans that teachers can use to promote Food Education in their communities during the third annual Food Education In Action Week (Oct. 5–9).
To kick off the event and introduce educators to this new collection of resources, Pilot Light will be hosting a free Food Education in Action Week kickoff webinar. SJ Schanwald, program officer for the Food Waste Warriors program, will be presenting Food Waste Warriors educational materials and digital resources.
Register here
__________
Tuesday, Sept. 29
International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW)
The theme for this year’s IDAFLW is the "Transformative Potential of Reducing Food Loss and Waste." We will be celebrating the day with a profile of two extraordinary individuals—Kareena Gupta and Gerin Hennebaul—whose work to reduce food waste in schools has already produced remarkable results and touched the lives of many.
Tuesday, Oct. 6
Trash to Treasure: How Wasted Food Can Become Healthy Soil
12:30–1:15 p.m. EST
Online
What happens to food scraps and yard trimmings after they leave the bin? Is it food waste, yard waste, or wasted natural resources? Join Clinton Sander, marketing manager at A1 Organics, to explore how organic materials and food from school cafeterias can be transformed into nutrient-rich compost that helps build healthier soils, stronger plants, and more resilient communities. This special livestream will take place live from a commercial composting facility, giving kids a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the composting process in action, following the path from plate to bin, bin to compost pile, and ultimately, back to the soil that grows our food. This webinar was produced in collaboration with WWF’s Wild Classroom programs, A1 Organics, and Exploring By The Seat of Your Pants.
Register here
Oct. 12–16
National School Lunch Week
The National School Lunch Program serves over 30 million students daily. The National School Lunch Week (NSLW) shines a spotlight on the creativity, teamwork, and dedication that make school meals a daily triumph. We’ll be celebrating the program and its contribution to student nutrition and success with several events. See below.
__________
Wednesday, Oct. 14
Food is Not Trash: Solutions to Cut Wasted Food, Strengthen Nutrition Budgets, and Turn Cafeterias Into Classrooms
3 p.m.–4:15 p.m. EST
Online
Up to 40% of the food served in schools can end up in the trash. This amounts to an estimated 530,000 tons every year, representing $1.7 billion in lost nutrition. Some districts are tackling this problem head-on by engaging students and communities to solve it.
This webinar brings together food and nutrition service leaders from Albuquerque Public Schools, Baltimore City Public Schools, and Project Green Fork to share how they use wasted food audits to identify what's actually being thrown away, apply those findings to adjust menus and better align with student preferences, and implement share tables and food recovery systems that cut costs while staying compliant with food safety requirements.
Moderated by Pete Pearson, vice president of Food at World Wildlife Fund, the discussion will cover what worked, what didn't, and how to build staff and student buy-in without adding strain to already-stretched teams.
Whether you're launching your district's first wasted food initiative or trying to deepen an existing one, you'll leave with practical strategies and real data you can use to measure, reduce, and report on wasted food in your own cafeterias.
Registration opens Oct. 1.
__________
Friday, Oct. 16
World Food Day
The theme for World Food Day 2026 is "Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow." We will celebrate the day by focusing on ways to nourish tomorrow’s leaders. This includes social content raising student and community voices, along with the publication of a detailed analysis of waste-reducing measures used in school cafeterias.