For two years, Cara has been encouraging 16 school restaurants in the metropolitan area to reduce their share of food waste. The adventure started in October 2022 and was managed by Cara’s waste department and agriculture department. “We have goals…
For two years, Cara has been encouraging 16 school restaurants in the metropolitan area to reduce their share of food waste. The adventure started in October 2022 and was managed by Cara’s waste department and agriculture department. “In Kara, we have goals to reduce our household waste by 9% by 2029. At the same time, the Agglomeration implements a regional food program. It is in this dynamic that this project was born in school restaurants,” explains Christine Medina, Head of Waste Prevention and Recovery at the Cara Urban Ecology Center.
19 out of 30 enterprises in the agglomeration then joined the project, which aims to act on all stages of food waste in schools, that is, the production, preparation and presentation of containers. “In November 2022, we were able to compile a preliminary inventory with a 20-day weight in each enterprise. The goal for us was to identify the stages with the most waste in order to determine the measures to be taken,” explains Christine Medina.
Terdev’s intervention
During 2023, businesses were able to host Terdev interventions as part of the system. This sacred association specializes in environmental education and has been able to advise children and education teams on raising awareness and understanding of the subject. At the same time, all players have benefited from CNFPT (National Center for Territorial Public Service) training so that “the kitchen staff, the service staff and the waiting staff all have the same message. From the preparation to the way we serve the menu to the kids, everything is important in the fight against waste,” assures Christine Medina.
In November of last year, enterprises had to go through the scales again. 16 of the 19 people who participated at the start played the game to the end. Overall, there was a 20% reduction in food waste between the first and second shots. Guest ratio went from 56g to 43g.
Composting
The Chaillevette school is in first place with 78% less waste. The Gambetta school in Saujon was able to reduce its waste by 41%. “Some businesses have reviewed many things in their organization. Saujon had a lot of cheese thrown in. They realized it wasn’t suitable for children, so they changed the type of cheese,” Kara adds.
The operation, which costs 10,000 euros per car, should benefit from a 20% increase from the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The educational project continues around composting, a way to deal with repeated waste and to involve businesses that were not involved in this first operation.