Ellen O’Hara

O’Hara’s innovative teaching idea, “Food Waste Recycling,” is focused on teaching students how to drastically reduce school food waste by implementing a recycling program to prevent food scraps from being deposited in Rhode Island landfills. Students will be asked to provide solutions to the question: What can we do that will make an impact? This learning experience will involve identifying the amount of current waste and implementing strategies to make positive changes. Based on initial research, O’Hara plans to leverage recycling resources available in the state by working with local pig farmers who use food waste as animal feed and partnering with a local company that utilizes food waste to create organic fertilizer. Students in the sixth grade class will be designated as the school leaders for this project, and will be assisted by the eighth-grade science class and school senate. To motivate all students to participate and take action, O’Hara also will hold a friendly competition between grade levels to see who can achieve the lowest amount of food waste at meals.