Some of the largest generators of food waste in cities and towns across New Jersey are not hospitals or restaurants, but, in fact, schools. “We have about 1,400 students at our school, eating lunch in the cafeteria 5 days a week. That’s a lot of half-eaten peanut butter jelly sandwiches getting thrown into the garbage,” quipped Abby Packman, sophomore and president of the high school’s Environmental Club.
For that reason, Millburn Environmental Commission (MEC) has partnered Millburn High School (MHS) to pilot a food waste recycling project. The project will run from May 1 through June 9. Volunteers for the project will come from the school’s Environmental Club and students 18 to 21 years of age from the Life Skills class “The goal of this project is certainly to reduce the amount of food waste that gets thrown away,” stated Ms. Jessica Landis, teacher at the high school, “but it’s equally about training students on valuable job skills that could help them transition into adulthood as active members of society and the workforce.”
Food waste is a global environmental problem. If disposed of in landfills, food waste creates methane, which is a greenhouse gas and a substantial contributor to the current climate crisis. Food waste makes up a large portion–up to 33%–of our municipal solid waste, which requires local dollars to transport to an incinerator in Newark, which is the case in Millburn and other Essex County towns. Furthermore, food waste is a valuable resource–if composted, it can be converted into a soil amendment that restores nutrients back into the ground. Volunteers will be trained by Java’s Compost company on the dos and don’ts of food scrap collection. Java’s will also haul the food scraps collected on a weekly basis to an industrial facility where the scraps will be composted.