The year 2020 had many reflecting about the fundamental elements to live: Where does our food come from? How can we grow healthy food for ourselves and with our community? How do we preserve seeds and knowledge for future generations to come? 

With the planting of these new seed thoughts is a rising interest and resurgance in farm to cafeteria. In the case of Ciudad Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) is the emergence of cafeteria food scraps to school garden initiative, in partnership with Albuquerque Public Schools (APS). Ciudad SWCD was awarded EPA Recycling Education and Outreach grant called Educating the Next Generation: Place-Based Food Waste Reduction and Compost Recycling Initiative.

This project is currently being implemented over three years, August 2024 to July 2027.  Ciudad Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) is piloting composting projects at Polk Middle School, Valle Vista Elementary, Alvarado Elementary School, and Los Padillas Elementary. In the 2026 - 2027 school year, composting initiatives will be initiated at Rio Grande High School. The details of these composting initiatives varies from school to school, working with the unique needs and makeup of the school structure and culture. However, each school is equiped with:

• Infrastructure and tools to manage cafeteria compost on-site: food scrap collection bins, food share table, multi-compartment composting bin system with the option for students to be involved with the building process.
• Trainings & metorship: weekly meetings with partner teachers to guide food waste diversion at school, composting guest lessons from Ciudad Staff that demonstrate what is compostable (how do we separate cafeteria food scraps from going into the landfill) as well as compost management (how do we use students K-12 to turn piles and create usable compost from start to finish)
• And more!

How can we teach the next generation the importance of composting cafeteria "food waste" and it's hollistic benefits of soil enhancement used to strengthen school garden resiliency?

How do we instill Earth Stewardship, to see food scraps as responsibilty rather than a waste, as a conduit for green house gas prevention?

How can we demonstrate composting as way of to life to live with Nature not against it, as those before have been taking care of Earth in this way since the beginning of time? 

How can we connect STEAM concepts so that students can develop critical skills aligned in school curricula, all while partipating in hands-on work of creating compost?

The implementation of Compost Curriculum is currently under development with the end goal of making it accessible to all teachers APS and educators state-wide. As a result of our first Composting and Food Waste Reduction Professional Development Workshop we have compiled resources for any educator interested in introducing students to composting. This folder will be made available when completed, however, you can request access for the prototype by emailing Cecilia Huizar, Agriculture Coordinator at cecilia@ciudadswcd.org. Files in this folder contains:

• Building plans and materials list for a 3 Bin System (soon a step by step guide to show how one can use students to build it)
• Compost Management Plans to guide ways to quickly and effectively manage high volumes of cafeteria food scraps on-site.
• Compost Curriclum Lesson Plans aligned with STEM Ready Standards (soon we will also add in ELA standards)
• And more!

Composting and Food Waste Reduction Professional Development Workshop is framed as a 3 hour crash course for any educator interested in understanding the fundamentals of composting and how one can initate composting at school. If you are an educator and have interest in attending a future workshop or have any questions, feel free to reach out  to cecilia@ciudadswcd.org.