TO mark Stop Food Waste Day on April 30, local primary and secondary school pupils recently learnt about food waste reduction, sustainability, and cooking in an interactive and educational session sustainability event.

Led by school and education catering company, Chartwells, the event at Newquay Junior Academy saw 60 pupils from schools throughout Cornwall Education Learning Trust (CELT) discover how much food goes to waste, learn how it is processed, cook with wonky vegetables, and set pledges for how they will help to reduce their food waste at school and at home.

Pupils reviewed food waste produced across CELT schools over the last 12 months, which totalled 7,612kg. They then learnt about where their food comes from in a growing session using tomato seeds and spring onion roots.

Lunch was a selection of nutritious meals from Chartwells’ ‘Waste Warrior’ cookbook, all carbon labelled and developed by the company’s regional executive chef, Richard Abbott. The recipes included butterbean and tomato soup, tortilla pizza, and curried cauliflower leaf and chickpea salad, each recipe makes use of typically discarded ingredients, such as bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, and potatoes.

Pupils then put their own cooking skills to the test, working alongside Richard to create a tomato-based sauce from wonky vegetables. At the end of the session, pupils divided into groups to create and present pledges on how they will reduce food waste in their own schools, homes, and local communities.

All pupils left the event with gift bags containing a copy of the ‘Waste Warrior’ cookbook, a pencil, a notebook, and wildflower seeds, which they can plant in their gardens to promote biodiversity.

Building on the success of the session, Chartwells has introduced new weighing scales into each CELT school, with food waste now logged on a “waste-o-meter” to encourage pupils to finish their meals and help to reduce waste. Food waste and carbon emissions from the event were also measured, revealing that a total of nine kilograms of waste were diverted from landfill.

Craig Hayes, executive headteacher at Newquay Junior Academy, said: “Educating the next generation on food waste is instrumental, and it’s wonderful to have events like these where pupils can learn practical ways to make positive strides forward. It was fantastic to see our pupils so engaged with the cooking and food waste reduction, and we want to thank Chartwells for organising such a fun and informative session.”

Lisa Warne, regional manager at Chartwells, said: “We were delighted to host this sustainability event for CELT pupils, empowering them to make positive choices on food and nutrition.

“We’re passionate about not just providing fantastic food to growing minds, but inspiring lifelong positive habits. We are excited to see how the pupils deliver on the food waste pledges that they made, and hope they enjoy recreating the recipes at home with their families.”

SUEZ recycling and recovery UK contributed to the session by explaining how discarded food is collected and processed in an anaerobic digester and provided a fun quiz for the pupils on food waste.