Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

30 minutes - Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
60+ minutes - Part B: Digging Into Food Waste
10 minutes - Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by writing the following term on the board:

Food waste

Invite students to take a few minutes to think about what food waste is and to write a definition for this term (alternatively, invite students to record keywords they would include in a definition for this term).

You can then ask students to suggest definitions (or keywords) to the class and to work collaboratively to create a class definition for food waste.

Use the following definitions to help you with your class definitions:

Step 2.

Now break students into pairs or small groups and invite each group to work collaboratively to develop a series of questions to find out the following:

Reasons for wasting food
Types of food that are wasted/never wasted
Food waste disposal methods.

With their completed questions, students need to interview another group using their questions and record their answers.

You can then create a three-column table on the board and add one of the following headings to each column:

Reasons
Types of food
Disposal

Invite students to add the answers they got to their questions in the relevant columns on the board. Use this table to engage students in a class discussion around food waste. Through this discussion lead students to the following points:

The food waste that most of us are familiar with is the waste that is leftover from the food we eat and prepare and the food that has passed its use-by date. This extends to food uneaten and unused in restaurants, cafes and the school canteen. It also includes food thrown away by supermarkets once it is past its use-by date.
Some of the most common types of wasted foods in Australia are bread, bananas, bagged lettuce and salad, meat, and milk (source).
Much of the food that we waste ends up in landfill. Food waste left in landfill decomposes in a way that produces greenhouse gas emissions. Composting is a much better way to dispose of food waste. Composting uses the natural process of decomposition to turn organic waste materials into a nutrient-rich soil that can be used in gardens.

If students have completed the Waste and Litter Audits, ask them to recall any findings relating to food waste. In addition, if students are conducting the waste breakdown experiment you could invite them to share what they have learned about food waste and decomposition.

Step 3.

There is another form of food waste that we are far less familiar with.

Students will now watch a clip from War On Waste which explores this other form of food waste. As they watch, invite students to record anything important or interesting. View on iTunes or Enhance TV:

Episode 1, Australia - 8:27 to 12:58

Once complete, students can share anything important or interesting they noticed in this clip. In addition, invite students to work in small groups or pairs to discuss their answers to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What is the type of food waste described in this clip?
Suggested answer: We saw bananas being wasted at a banana processing plant/banana packaging plant. This is waste created through the growing and production of foods for supermarkets.
Why does this waste occur? What is the problem?
Suggested answer: The bananas being wasted are those that are too big or too small to be sold in supermarkets. Supermarkets have size and shape requirements for the bananas they sell, including being the right length and having the right amount of ‘bend’. Explain to students that these requirements are called ‘cosmetic standards’ and supermarkets have them because they think that shoppers won’t buy bananas that are big or small or not bent. And it’s not just bananas; most fruit and vegetables sold in supermarkets are subject to cosmetic standards. This means that 20-40% of the fruit and vegetables that is grown for supermarkets is thrown out because it’s the wrong size or shape.
Why do you think supermarkets have cosmetic standards for fruit and vegetables?
Suggested answer: Supermarkets want consumers to return to their stores and so provide food that they think consumers want, including fruit and vegetables that are a certain size and shape.

You could engage students in a brief class discussion around their answers to ensure students understand all the points addressed. Conclude your discussion by clarifying some of the ways we waste food. Food waste includes:

Leftovers that are thrown away by consumers and restaurants
Food that is thrown away by supermarkets and consumers because it is past its use-by date
Food that is thrown away before it reaches the supermarket because it doesn’t meet the cosmetic standards described by supermarkets.

Step 4.

Now pose the following question to students (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What environmental costs do you think food waste might have?

Invite students to suggest answers and record these on the board. Explain to students that they will be exploring the answers to this question in the next part of the lesson; however, keep a record of students' answers as you can return to these later in this lesson.

Part B: Digging Into Food Waste

Step 1.

Share the following clip with students, explaining that it comes from War On Waste:

Episode 1, Australia - 26:58 to 30:11

Once complete, invite students to share the environmental issues associated with food waste raised in this clip.

Explain to students that there are many environmental costs associated with food waste; every resource required to grow and process food is wasted when the food is wasted. But what are these costs specifically?

Step 2.

Students will work in groups to develop an inquiry question or a series of questions, and then plan and undertake an inquiry that explores an environmental cost associated with food waste.

Differentiation:

Year 9 - Students should focus on one state or territory in Australia (these could be assigned to groups). They should undertake research to find out what the main types of food produced in their assigned state or territory are. They can then develop a question or series of questions around this food type in the context of food waste.

Groups can then work collaboratively to answer their questions, creating a presentation to share their work with the class.

Students can use this worksheet to guide them: Year 9 Worksheet.

Year 10 - Students will focus on the environmental changes resulting from food production and what this means for our environment when food is wasted. Working independently or in groups students can either focus on:

One type of food (for example, apples or meat) or
One type of environmental change (for example, water use, biodiversity loss, atmospheric pollution, land degradation).

Students should describe the issue they are looking at and how it relates to food waste. They should also describe how their issue poses a challenge for sustainability.

Students can create a presentation to share their work with the class.

Students can use this worksheet to guide them: Year 10 Worksheet.

You can also provide students with a copy of the Presentation Rubric so they know what is expected of them.

Step 3.

Invite students to share their presentations with the class. At the end of each presentation invite those watching to ask questions of the presenters. Prompt students to ask questions that are kind, helpful and specific:

Reflection

Step 1.

Remind students of the question they responded to earlier in this lesson:

What environmental costs do you think food waste might have?

Students should return to their initial responses and then add any new responses they now have.

Step 2.

Invite students to work independently to think about what they looked at in this lesson and to respond to the following:

I used to think…
But now I think...

Extension opportunity: Invite students to consider the following questions. Students could discuss their answers in small groups or as a class, or work independently to respond to these questions in writing:

In what ways might food waste be a social issue as well as an environmental issue?
What do you think about food waste and food security, both now and in the future? How might they be connected?

You could also watch and reflect on the following clip from War On Waste:

Episode 1, Australia - 45:45 to 50:01

Take It Further

If you are planning on completing the follow-up social action lesson, War On Waste – Taking Action For Waste – Years 7-10, you can use learnings from this lesson to develop a plan for waste at your school.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

War On Waste - The Full Costs of Food Waste

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Summary

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