The California Senate Food Recovery Act, also known as Senate Bill (SB) 1383, requires all local education agencies to maintain an edible food recovery program starting Jan. 1, 2024, according to CalRecycle.
In an effort to reduce food waste, the MUSD nutrition department established a food recovery program at MHS with transparent, transportable share bins starting Feb. 12, Student Nutrition Services director Sucheta Gehani said in an email. Daily announcements in the first week were meant to help publicize the share bins, she added.
“These share bins provide an opportunity for other students to take additional helpings of food or beverages at no cost,” Gehani said.
Unconsumed food and beverage items such as prepackaged foods, wrapped foods, and food items with a peel can be placed in the share bins after breakfast and lunch, Gehani said. Whole fruits, juices, and crackers are some examples of food that qualify for this program, she added.
“We did a pilot at Russell Middle School for the share bins and the students usually throw away fruits in those bins,” Gehani said. “We rewash the fruits and use them the next day.”
At the end of lunch, the MHS cafeteria staff will collect the dry goods and whole fruits that can be saved for further use and dispose of temperature-sensitive foods, Gehani said.
“We are also working with a charitable organization that will pick up leftover foods once a week from the (MHS) food court,” Gehani said.
The share bins will be located near the cafeterias and satellite kitchens throughout breakfast and lunch periods, Esociety president Satvika Iyer said. Esociety officers have worked with Gehani since the 2021-22 school year for initiatives like the vegan food menu, and are now working with her to initiate this food recovery program, she added.
“There’s a lot of food waste on our campus,” Iyer said. “At first, we (Esociety) were looking at composting and other things, but then we realized that, through Gavin Newsom’s law for free lunch, we’ve had free lunch for the past three years. We should take advantage of that and actually give back to our community.”
Composting systems have already been implemented in some elementary and middle schools in the district, like Robert Randall Elementary School, Iyer said. Some of them also use share bins, she added.
“We have one third of the entire district population (in MHS),” Iyer said. “It’s time we got it (share bins) here.”
The district is planning to work with nonprofit organizations in light of the food recovery mandate in Senate Bill 1383, Superintendent Cheryl Jordan said.
“We’ll do that much better, as far as reaching the goal of remedying climate change and reducing key aspects of the methane that food that is left rotting in the landfills contributes to,” Jordan said.
Esociety vice president Junior Ester Liu wants to see improvements in the school garden and other sustainability activities as well, she said.
“We only share one world,” Liu said. “It’s not like we can turn back time and get back the (resources) we already lost.”