Rutgers University School Climate Change Corps

The Rutgers Food Waste Team has been successfully partnering with schools since 2018 to implement strategies in schools that reduce the amount of food waste generated by cafeterias.

New Jersey became the first state in the nation to mandate climate change education for K-12 public schools and will implement that mandate this year. In response, Rutgers Food Waste Team has developed curricula for fifth grades students that address food waste and its effects on climate change. Food waste reduction practices are framed as a solution to climate change in the unit. 

The goals of Climate Change Corps will be to improve school administrations’ and fifth grade students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, toward adapting food waste reduction practices, and, ultimately, to reduce the amount of food waste produced by the schools in which they work. We will partner with public schools across New Jersey to implement this programming.