STORY PREVIEW

2024

Waste-Less Cafeteria

Nir Haemek Youth Village

Israel

MENTOR

Sharon Nir Inbar

Step 1 FEEL

List the challenges or problems in your surroundings (school,neighbourhood etc.) that bothered you.

We were met each morning with a bad smell as we entered the youth village Which was coming from the garbage room outside the cafeteria The amount of discarded food emerged as the cause

State the problem chosen to work and why.

We were met each morning with a bad smell as we entered the youth village Which was coming from the garbage room outside the cafeteria The amount of discarded food emerged as the cause

Who were the people affected by the problem? What were their primary concerns?

All the people at the Youth Village and the environment

Step 2 IMAGINE

List ALL the different solutions you came up with.

We thought of experiential ways to convey to the students educational lessons about menstruation, and throwing away the food, through a digital escape room we built. https://app.genial.ly/editor/65b934b4e7810000131b33c2 We thought we would send a form every morning to the school children to know if they are coming or not, what they want to eat, and if they would like to change something. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe52XpEZ6_j2ZIH_LUXpk5JuYLHQ3gq_nSkmAgqfVqpnrOT6Q/viewform?usp=sf_link We talked to the person responsible for buying the food, and tried to convince him to reduce the food buying if necessary. We suggested reducing the size of the portions, so that children would not eat half a schnitzel and throw away the rest. You can make schnitzels / nuggets. We requested that the CEO of the village purchase a biogas facility near the dining room and that way we will unpack the food, and we can put it in the ecological garden. In the end we decided on buying smaller trays and education by moving the escape room we built. These two ways were the easiest to implement and we encountered no objections from the management or the dining room

Which solution from those listed above did you choose to implement and why?

We suggested reducing the portions of food on the trays so people wouldn’t throw half of their food away and that there be less wasted food.

Step 3DO

Describe very briefly the process of implementing your solution(s).

Reducing the size of the tray is a change that requires no effort and greatly affects the climate, and from a moral point of view we thought of encouraging students to participate in receiving a gift - a personalized tray, they invested in us and the climate and we invest in them back We purchased 35 dedicated trays to replace the large tray and large plate in the dining room, We prepared 2 separate bins into which the waste will be thrown, A bin for trays - for 15 students and a bin for regular trays And we weighed the results. A designated bin into which the waste from the trays was thrown with inscriptions in Hebrew and Russian. To convince students to cooperate with us, we promised them the new tray as a gift after the meal. We proved that the reduction of the tray reduces the loss and waste of food. The cost of 15 reduced trays is NIS 150, but it saves a lot of food If we convert the thrown food into money, we noticed that less meat was thrown away on the trays. We have proven that the reduction of the tray reduces the loss and waste of food. The cost of 15 reduced trays is NIS 150, but it saves a lot of food If we convert the thrown food into money, we noticed that less meat was thrown away on the trays.

What was the result or impact of your project?

We made a huge impact. We weighed the garbage thrown away before and after our intervention and we reduced food waste by 40%!!!

How many people were impacted by your solution(s)?

500

What did the impacted people have to say about your project? Provide 2 quotes or testimonials:

We discovered the ability to stand in front of different audiences of students, teachers and parents We showed determination to make a change in a place that was not a fan at first but later cooperated - the dining room. We discovered that we are strong and do not give up, even though the management refused to purchase bio-gas for the Home Village, we continued on.

What challenges did you encounter while implementing your project, and how did you overcome them?

We didn't believe that the cafeteria manager would go along with us, but we were so dedicated, they HAD TO!

How long did it take to implement your solution?

MORE THAN 30 DAYS

Which global goals does your story align with?

Responsible consumption and production

Please explain briefly why do you think so?

Food waste is a major problem. Commercial cafeterias where people are not charged for the food they take creates unnecessary waste and we NAILED IT!

Step 4 SHARE

How did you share your project with your school and community? Who did you share your project with? What was their response?

We submitted the project to the Eco Ocean Competition, The Albert Einstein Hackathon, and the Research Fair of the Administration for Rural Education We taught students and parents about the importance of avoiding food waste