Recycling and Waste Reduction Opportunity Assessment: Springfield [IL] Public Schools District 186

In 2015, through funds made available by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) launched the Green Lunchroom Challenge. The Green Lunchroom Challenge is a voluntary competition among schools to improve the sustainability of their food service operations, with a focus on food waste prevention and reduction. The Challenge involves activities that range in complexity and commitment, to allow participants to best suit their situation, budget and available community resources. Participants earn points for every activity they complete and relative progress is displayed on an online leaderboard. In addition to resources available to complete each activity in the challenge, ISTC partnered with the Springfield Public Schools (SPS) to assess the opportunities of food waste reduction and diversion. This hands on assessment gave ISTC insight to the barriers and opportunities in implementing the activities included in the Green Lunchroom Challenge.