As a student at Centennial I can closely observe the environment and notice things in this building that  people on the outside wouldn’t.

I have noticed that many students often times don’t eat their fruit or vegetables at school.

And it seems wasteful.  

There is a federal law that all students who qualify for free school lunch take a fruit and vegetable, but many students don’t even like or want it and very few actually eat.

Because so many students don’t want the fruit and vegetables, they throw them away.

There are “No Thank You” bins at the back of the lunchroom, but many students don’t use them and instead toss the items in the trash bins which are much closer to the seating areas.  It seems that students are far too lazy to put the fruit there rather than waste it.

There is also the aspect of the No Thank You bins that students are averted to, the fruit is washed and recycled; many students find this gross so they avoid it.

Though the fruit is recycled through the next day, it only stays in the loop for four days and is thrown away after that time if it is not used, said kitchen manager April Carr.  Regardless, there is no reason to waste perfectly good food.  Food is money.

This  terrible amount of waste is a huge issue in our school, and it needs to be fixed.

I think reminder announcements and posters could highly benefit in this issue.  Sending the message, “ Don’t waste, recycle!” might help students forget how blessed they are to get the food they do, and wasting it is not a good way to show their appreciation for that.