St Mary's Primary School students in Bellingen have been taking uneaten food home this term so families can see what's being thrown away.
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It's part of a new pilot program that aims to cut food waste, help families save money, and have a positive impact on the environment.
St Mary's has teamed up with MidWaste, the NSW Government's Love Food Hate Waste program and BehaviourWorks Australia to explore effective food waste reduction measures.
Every student wastes 3kg of food each year on average. In Australia each year, students throw away 3.5 million uneaten sandwiches, 3 million pieces of whole fruit and 1.3 million items of packaged foods.
The Lunchbox Leftovers program is being rolled out in nine schools across the Mid North Coast and is trialling three innovative program implementations - Make Your Own Lunch, Take Leftovers Home and Play Before Eating.
St Mary's School has chosen to take part in the Take Leftovers Home implementation. By sending leftovers home, children will be more aware of the amount of food they waste, families will learn what is being left uneaten, and the volume of food waste in school bins will be reduced.
The year 3 to 6 students also participated in a workshop making beeswax wraps as a fun, hands on component of the program.
Principal Claire Mellon said St Mary's was pleased to participate in the food waste reduction trial and looked forward to seeing a reduction in the amount of food left uneaten or thrown away by students.
"We know that when food is thrown away, all the valuable resources that went into producing, packaging, transporting and selling that food is also wasted," Ms Mellon said.
"The Lunchbox Leftovers program is a great opportunity for our school to trial an innovative sustainability action while also helping our school families to save money. By cutting the amount of food wasted at school and at home, families could save up to $4000 a year."
MidWaste Project Officer Wendy Grant said all families could learn how to reduce food waste at home by signing up for the free online Food Smart program at www.midwaste.com.au/food-smart.
"Food Smart includes easy, step-by-step guides to help you reduce your food waste and keep more money in your pocket," Ms Grant said.
This project is supported by the NSW Environment Protection Authority as part of the Waste Less Recycle More initiative, funded from the waste levy.
