More than 300 people from Fundesplai educational teams in schools have participated in the opening day of the course. This year the pedagogical axis will be the fight against waste.
The fight against food waste in schools and the modifications of the school calendar have been very present in the day that Fundesplai held this Thursday, September 1, 2022 at Centre Esplai (El Prat de Llobregat) to prepare the start of the course of the educational leisure teams of the schools where the organization is present. More than 300 people have taken part, including monitors, coordinators and cooks of the schools where the entity dynamizes the educational time at noon.
During the presentation, Cristina Rodríguez, general director of Fundesplai, has pointed out: “This 2022-23 will be a crucial year, full of challenges, where the teams that are in schools have a fundamental educational role in the transmission of values such as coexistence and sustainability through their work in canteens, extracurricular activities, etc.” In addition, Rodríguez stressed the importance of all the work and commitment of the teams in the preparation of the month of September: adaptation to the new calendar, search for equipment and organization of a specific program of educational activities for the month of September, always within the educational project of each center.
Subsequently, the participants have taken part in different training workshops related to the novelties of the beginning of the course, management, food allergies and intolerances or the new educational proposal, among others.
Health and climate change in schools: fighting waste
This 2022-23 Fundesplai teams working in schools, youth centers, summer camps and other educational spaces will focus on “Stop wasting food“, an educational axis to promote the fight against food waste that is part of the educational proposal “Menjar Canvia el Món” that Fundesplai has been promoting since the 2021-22 academic year and will be extended this 2022-23 to promote sustainable and healthy eating.
The proposal is based on the idea that health, climate and food are closely linked and that the last element is essential to help combat climate change and improve people’s health. Some facts: food waste accounts for between 8% and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and each person wastes 35 kg of food per year in Catalonia, 7% of those acquired.
Reduction of emissions in school canteens
In this sense, it should be noted that in the schools where Fundesplai is present at the midday educational time Greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 42.5% of menus between 2016 and 2021 thanks to the fight against food waste or the reduction of animal protein in favor of vegetable protein. Other actions have also been carried out to improve sustainability such as increasing organic products, incorporating more local suppliers and making transport more efficient, eliminating two thirds of distribution trucks.
The educational teams will sensitize children and young people about this problem in school canteens, youth centers, summer camps, etc. through incorporating new habits and with a series of dynamic activities such as workshops, talks, etc. on responsible consumption, food use, recipes to optimize food, etc. In addition, different collective actions will be carried out on September 29, 2022 on the occasion of the International Day of Awareness on Food Loss and Waste (FAO), on November 20, 2022 on the occasion of the Universal Day of the Rights of the Child and on April 23, 2023 with the dissemination of a collective recipe book against waste.
All these resources and many more are already available on the web https://projectes.fundesplai.org/mcm/. Another recommended activity is the exhibition “Menja. Acts. Impacta”, about sustainable and healthy food that was inaugurated in November 2021 at the headquarters of Fundesplai in El Prat de Llobregat and has already received thousands of visits. In this time, the exhibition has become an educational reference.