What are the six major steps to reducing the problem with food waste?
What resources go into food and how do we reduce food waste?
Anaerobic digestion and composting are two of the most sustainable ways to dispose of food waste. This lesson serves as a review and reinforcement for the students.
How can we recover energy from food waste?
What are the best places for food waste to go?
Anchoring
phenomena
Investigation
L1
L3
L2
Lesson
Routine
Phenomena / Problems
Questions
What We Figured Out
When it comes to growing food, there are many resources that go into food such as water, labor, energy and land. There are many ways we can personally reduce our food waste and therefore decrease the amount of wasted resources.
Composting is the process when organic materials break down in the presence of oxygen.
Anaerobic digestion is a process where microorganisms break down organic matter such as food waste without the presence of oxygen. Different food wastes produce different amounts of gas, as well as different concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide.
Investigation
The EPA Hierarchy gives 6 major steps to reducing food waste, with many touched on throughout the module.
Where does trash go?
Investigation
Most of the time when we throw things away, we aren’t really thinking about where it actually should go. There are five major places waste can go.
L5
L6
Investigation
How can we recover fertilizer from food waste?
Putting pieces
together
L7
Putting pieces
together
How do we decrease the impact of humans on the environment?
All previous phenomena and problems we identified
Being more sustainable when it comes to food and food waste is one way to decrease the impact of humans on the environment.
L4