WOODBURY–It appears that most students don’t like to eat their vegetables. Because of that, there’s a lot of waste in Nonnewaug’s cafeteria.

“I’d say I throw out 30%-40% of my food, because it’s stuff that I don’t want,” Addie Cetrone, a freshman at Nonnewaug said. “They make you take carrots or some sort of vegetable that I don’t even want.” 

A lot of students feel this way, including freshman Piper Robinson.

“We get food that we don’t really like and then we throw it out, then it’s just a big waste and not great for the environment.”

Other students feel like they don’t waste a lot of food because they share it or eat it all.

Franklyn Esposito, a freshman at Nonnewaug says, “I throw out almost nothing because I’m hungry.”

And Emily Lazurek, also a freshman at Nonnewaug, says,  “I would say I don’t throw out a lot because I share it with people.”

Staff in the cafeteria are aware of the daily waste.

“Mainly vegetables are getting wasted,” says Costa Lefkimiatis, the manager in food services at Nonnewaug.

Students and staff have ideas on how to help cafeteria waste that involve reusing it for something better.

“I think we can prevent cafeteria waste by using it for outdoor stuff,” Centrone says. “By making a compost system where you can make stuff for the soil.”

Kate Peterson, a French teacher at Nonnewaug, agrees with Cetrone, saying, “I think we could have a recycling bin and a compost bin.”

Lazurek also agrees, “You can prevent it by recycling and using the right trash cans.”

The most common solution that staff and students said was, creating a recycling and compost system. But, there are other simple ways to reduce waste.

Lefkimiatis suggests, “Everybody eat your fruits and vegetables that are put on the plate because they are required to be on the tray.”