By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Learning about food waste – from an environmental perspective – is the goal of a new partnership between the University of Illinois and the state Environmental Protection Agency. IEPA’s Kristi Morris says this is not about joining the clean plate club and starving kids in China.

“Reducing the amount of waste that we generate, buying what is really needed, preparing meals, and then going into the leftover waste products that can be composted,” Morris says. “And composting is one of the activities given in the lesson.”

It’s part of a fifth- and sixth-grade science curriculum, “Where Does My Food Go?,” available free online.

We throw away about a third of our food, and IEPA’s James Jennings says that’s a problem.

“Over the past decade and a half, food waste has been one of the largest waste streams that is generated in Illinois. The impact of that is it takes landfill space that can be devoted to other materials, and it also has greenhouse gas implications” as it decomposes.

pathways.mste.illinois.edu

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]