LEXINGTON PARK-According to a recent United Nations study, about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted worldwide each year. One Southern Maryland school is working to lower that number a little bit.
At Chesapeake Public Charter School in Lexington Park, student volunteers known as “S.L.O.P. Cops” sort, collect and weigh uneaten food, everything from apple cores to sandwich crusts. Instead of just throwing the S.L.O.P. away, like most people would think to do, the school gives it to the family of a fourth grader who uses the S.L.O.P. to feed their chickens.
April Skinner, a fourth grade teacher at the school, started the S.L.O.P. (Stuff Left on Plate) program with her class two years ago.
Each grade level at Chesapeake Public Charter also has a worm compost bin where some of the uneaten food ends up. By reducing and reusing, the school of about 350 students has gone from an average of 70 to six pounds of food waste daily.