Addressing food waste in schools is no longer just a sustainability goal—it’s becoming a regulatory necessity. With new regulations under the Environment Act 2021 coming into effect as of March 2025, schools in England with ten or more employees are required to separately collect food waste, dry recyclables, and residual waste. For schools producing more than 5kg of food waste per week, this often means arranging separate collections at an additional cost.
To help schools navigate these changes while saving money and supporting the environment, the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with School Food Matters, has launched the “Food Is Not Rubbish” toolkit.
What is the “Food Is Not Rubbish” Toolkit?
Led by the Department of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, this project draws on academic research, real-world case studies, and interviews with school staff and waste professionals. The toolkit is designed to be a suite of interventions that can be tailored to an individual school’s needs, rather than a “one-size-fits-all” solution.
The toolkit is organized into three primary sections:
- Understanding Food Waste: Provides the policy context and explains the hidden environmental and financial costs of food waste.
- Getting Started: Offers practical tools to identify why waste happens, including guidance on measuring waste, curriculum integration, and optimizing the lunchtime experience (such as dining room layout and scheduling).
- Further Information: Includes best-practice case studies and practical guides for on-site solutions like composting and creating wormeries.
A critical part of a regenerative food system is closing the loop on waste. By teaching young people to be more mindful of the food on their plates, schools can foster a generation that values food as a resource rather than rubbish. This toolkit empowers staff and pupils to take practical actions that complement FixOurFood’s broader efforts to transform school food systems for the better.
Food is Not Rubbish has highlighted key areas with potential for improving food waste reduction in school.
- Tailored & multi-component approaches: Each school needs a customized mix of interventions rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.
- Environmental framing: Food waste education should be embedded within broader environmental learning, not treated as an isolated topic.
- Food-system perspective: Schools should view food waste within the full system from procurement and preparation to consumption and disposal. This could save money, as resources spent on wasted
food could be directed to other school resources. - Student involvement: Actively engaging students in menu planning, decision-making, and food-waste strategies foster ownership and long-term behaviour change.
- Enhancing school meals: Children were keen for greater choice at lunchtime, for example with choosing side portions, serving sizes, and for more taster opportunities.
- The dining room: Operational challenges for change during lunchtimes like rushed service, limited dining space, and competing priorities could be addressed through observations of the lunchtime
session. - Campaigns: Research indicates that while educational campaigns raise awareness, they are most effective when paired with behavioural nudges, student-led engagement, and practical tools
like waste tracking. Campaigns need to be repeated regularly due to changing cohorts.
Take Action
Reducing food waste is a powerful way for schools to meet sustainability goals while complying with upcoming environmental regulations.
You can explore the full Food Is Not Rubbish toolkit and start developing your school’s action plan by visiting the resource page here: School Food Waste: Food Is Not Rubbish.