The Ministry of Education (MOE) is stepping up efforts to integrate campus waste treatment with agrifood education and other concepts as the nation looks to ban the use of food scraps as pig feed next year as part of the government’s preventive measures against African swine fever.
Multiple schools have been using the process of handling leftover food as an educational opportunity, such as the Taipei City Ching Chiang Elementary School’s Vermiponics System project, K-12 Administration official Chiu Chiu-chan (邱秋蟬) said.
The school deposits leftovers from school lunches into boxes, feeding the earthworms inside, whose feces fertilize the vegetation planted in the boxes, Chiu said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education
By observing the process, the students gain a deeper understanding of food waste recycling, she said.
Nanlong Junior High School in Kaohsiung also encourages its students to be involved in projects involving leftovers.
This allows students to learn more about agriculture and food, the environment and science in general, and would also teach them to refrain from being wasteful, Chiu said.
Taitung County’s Fongyuan Elementary School has also been raising black soldier flies to process school food scraps.
The school said the process allows students to reflect on their food choices and how they impact sustainability, adding that the process also teaches them to cherish food and learn about recycling.
Taichung’s Huiwen High School, through careful separation and preservation, and in collaboration with organizations, turns food leftovers into food for disadvantaged families and homeless people, Chiu said.
The project allows the school to recycle and reuse about 70 percent of its leftovers, helping prevent waste while doing its part for the community, Chiu said.
The ministry would continue to share with schools how to prevent food waste, encouraging them not to buy too many supplies, to set up their purchases around a weekly schedule, to invest in better storage methods, and to share excess food with other organizations and groups, Chiu said.
The ministry said it would also praise and reward schools that have made exceptional efforts to reduce food waste and cultivate habits of cherishing food, Chiu said, adding that this would help increase school lunch quality and ensure that schools are implementing measures to help achieve a sustainable environment in line with government policies.
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