This spring, the Food Bank took an important step toward greater sustainability by partnering with Black Earth Compost to divert food waste from our commercial kitchen through composting.
The chefs for our Kids Cafe program proudly make nutritious dinners from scratch for more than 400 students. The meals are served Monday through Friday at three after-school programs spanning the state. And now, the waste from the creation of those meals is being turned into nutrient-rich soil.
“Composting in our kitchen is an important extension of our mission. It ensures that even what we don’t serve still nourishes our community,” said Yesenia Barnier, the Food Bank’s Director of Community Nutrition. “By turning food scraps into soil instead of waste, we model for our youth that every resource has value, every action has impact, and caring for our environment is part of caring for each other.”
One of our Kids Cafe sites, the Segue Institute for Learning, has already been composting its kitchen scraps. In the future, we look forward to launching composting programs at all of our Kids Cafe meal sites.
IMPACT: We diverted 4,600 pounds of food waste from the landfill in our first 3 months alone. The Food Bank is expected to divert nearly 20,000 pounds in its first year.
