Annakshetra has also stepped in to address the issue of the food waste at schools and started its campaign ‘Tiffin Annakshetra’. Mothers pack kids’ lunches with healthy food, a significant amount (about 25 to 35%) of that food ends up in the trash. As long as children have been picky eaters, wasted food has been part of the deal. Therefore, awareness among children is needed to stop food-waste. Children are the best messengers to society; they will further spread the message to create a movement to ‘No More Food To Waste’.

Annakshetra has installed first such refrigerator in Subodh Public School on 28th Oct in Jaipur, India. It was inaugurated by Hon’able Minister of Higher Education Mr Kalicharan Saraf.

The fridge is accessible to all students where any student can leave surplus food of any type and quantity. The Annakshetra team visits school everyday to collect food stored in refrigerator and redistribute the same to beneficiaries. The message of reducing food waste, minimizing the environmental impact and finally monetary savings was very well taken by the students and the fridge was found overloaded from very first day.

The results coming up are incredible! The children were full of enthusiasm when they learnt the concept and purpose of Annakshetra. They were glad they had an opportunity to discuss an issue that affects so many people and can make a small contribution in addressing that. The food coming on daily basis is being tracked. It is not the quantity but the food articles which students are especially getting from home and placing in the refrigerator displays the spirit. Best was a Rs 5 chocolate found in the refrigerator. Again not the cost or quantity but hats off to one who thought of giving to someone else then enjoying him/herself.

By incorporating food-waste awareness and habits at schools, Annakshetra is truly trying to make a small meaningful adjustments in our daily wastage and eating. Many more schools have given consent for similar activity in their school campuses which is going to follow soon. It is making an attempt to implement small changes that will make a big difference in the amount of food we throw away each year. The resources we conserve today will help feed our great-grandchildren, who may find themselves with a different set of problems than “too much food”.