The Boulder Valley School District is turning to data collection as it looks for ways to reduce its food waste.
The district recently won a $10,000 grant from Boulder County’s Resource Conservation Division’s Zero Waste funding program. The money will pay for a a food waste reduction system for the district’s three production kitchens.
“We always want less waste,” said Ann Cooper, Boulder Valley’s food services director.
She said reducing food waste, along with cutting back on sugar in the district’s menu items, is a main goal for the next school year.
For food waste, the district plans to install three food waste scales from LeanPath, a small company based in Portland, Ore. The company’s food waste data collection system is also used on college campuses and by Google in its employee cafes.
The system includes an automated scale and touch-screen terminal, with tracking data downloaded to a management dashboard that shows data, trends, comparisons and progress over time.
With the new system in Boulder Valley, the district can track each food item that’s thrown into the compost bins, showing trends that can help generate ideas on how to improve, reducing both waste and food costs.
Now, Cooper said, there’s no way to tell if kitchens are throwing away carrot tops or carrots that went bad before they could be used.
“This way, we can really quantify what’s going on,” she said. “We can hopefully reduce waste by talking about it.”
Boulder Valley prepares close to 13,000 meals daily, with an emphasis on local and organic ingredients and salad bars in every school. The district spends about 25 percent of its $3 million food budget on Colorado produce and meat.
The district already uses reusable trays, plates, cups and silverware, while all beef and chicken and most produce is packaged in reusable containers. Even cooking oil is collected and sent off to become biofuel.
At the school level, about half of the district’s schools compost food waste with the help of Eco-Cycle.
“We really are doing a lot, but we can always do better,” Cooper said. “Our students, parents and school community really cares about food waste. We put a high priority on sustainability.”
Amy Bounds: 303-473-1341, boundsa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/boundsa
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