May 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 43

starts with proper planning. From accurate meal counts and source reduction to site selection, it is important
to thoroughly plan your meal service
programs to reduce the amount of
food being wasted.
Producing less food can help lower the amount of waste that is generated. While large portion sizes at
restaurants and over-purchasing at
the grocery store are typically the culprits, meal providers may be guilty
of over-ordering food for their sites.
It is important to keep accurate meal
counts and track attendance at your
meal sites. Enrollment numbers and
attendance can change daily and
weekly (especially during the summer
months).
Find the Right Food Vendor
Find a food vendor that meets the
needs of your agency and community. If you're participating in a meal
program, make sure you are getting
everything you need from your vendor. Will they work with you to ensure you are meeting nutrition standards and USDA guidelines? Do
they have a meal delivery system in
place to ensure food arrives at your
site when it's needed? Are you able
to change your meal counts on a
daily or weekly basis? These are all
considerations when choosing a food
vendor and a significant component
in reducing the amount of food waste
generated.
Quality of Food
You can't have a conversation about
food waste without addressing food
quality. While there are nutrition standards in place for the federal nutrition
programs, there is much room for improvement. While there are certainly
exceptions, food vendors don't always
choose to serve the freshest and health

iest options, leaving children to eat
meals that may not appeal to them.
Children are more likely to eat foods
that are higher in quality, including
fresh fruits and vegetables and hot
meals, than foods that might appear
to be processed. Meals that look and
taste better are not only more likely to
be fully consumed, but also are more
likely to contribute to consistent attendance in out-of-school time programs,
providing the mutual benefits of tackling childhood hunger and malnutrition and engaging kids in enrichment
and learning programs.
Holding focus groups with children and monitoring the popularity
of meals is a great way to ensure you
are serving foods that are high quality and enjoyable for children. The
City of Aurora Parks Recreation and
Open Space Department recently implemented both of these strategies.
It successfully reduced food waste
by working with a vendor to provide
freshly prepared foods, encouraging
children to try new items, and monitoring the popularity of items.
Food Donation and Sharing
We know that proper planning and
serving high-quality meals can help
to reduce waste, but what can be
done with extra food? The EPA
Food Recovery Hierarchy (www.epa.
gov/sustainable-management-food/
food-recovery-hierarchy) offers the
most preferred management strategies for wasted food. Many of these
strategies can be implemented at park
and recreation sites, including:
Share Tables: The majority of the 25
park and recreation agencies utilized
a " share table " method, providing a
table where children can place unwanted items others can eat. This
helps to reduce waste and to feed
children who are still hungry after

their meal. In addition, many agencies, like those in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, (when allowable)
let children bring either a fruit or
non-perishable, pre-packaged grain
item home or store food according
to regulations and re-purposed it to
conduct healthy cooking classes and
nutrition education lessons.
Food Donation: With millions of
households suffering from food insecurity, one of the most logical ways to
address a surplus of food is to donate
it. The Recreation and Park Commission for the East Baton Rouge
Parish, Louisiana, donates allowable
extra food and milk to a local church.
While there are regulations on what
food products can be donated, it's
worthwhile to look into this option
and find a donation partner within
your community.
Composting
Composting is an alternative to disposing of food in a landfill. Certain
elements of foods can be turned into
compost to feed and nourish the soil,
helping to cultivate new growth. Park
and recreation agencies, like those
in Lansing, Michigan, have utilized
composting bins to re-purpose the
food for their community gardens.
This provides the additional benefit
of educating youth about the process
of how food is grown.
By implementing new policies
and procedures, park and recreation
agencies are helping to reduce and
eliminate the 80 billion pounds of
food waste dumped into landfills
each year, leading to more sustainable meal programs.

Allison Colman is NPRA's Program Manager
(acolman@nrpa.org).

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