Question

How can we make our school less wasteful? One way is to cut down on food waste. In my opinion, the best way to get our students to waste less food is by changing our lunch schedules dramatically.


2
Most importantly, we should have lunch after recess. When we play before lunch, we burn off calories and feel hungrier. Therefore, we will eat more at lunchtime. The National Food Service Management Institute at the University of Mississippi shows that when lunch followed recess, plate waste was sliced from 40 percent to 27 percent.


3
In addition, we should have a longer lunch period. Ours is only twenty minutes. This doesn't give us enough time to finish our lunches. According to one school cook in Ohio, the lunch period should be lengthened to thirty minutes. She believes students won't throw away so much food if they have more time to talk with their friends and eat. According to a 2003 study by the National Food Service Management Institute, schools with thirty-minute lunch periods have less food waste than schools with twenty-minute lunch periods do. The study looked at 1,119 students in grades 3 to 5 who had a twenty-minute lunch and 758 students who had a 30-minute lunch.




4
Also, lunch lines are too long and too slow. When students have to wait, they have even less time to eat. In some schools, students only have 10 to 15 minutes to gobble their food! In order to be on time to class, they end up throwing out food because there's no time to eat it. A longer lunch period, along with quicker food service, is the answer.


5



6
I support making changes to the lunch schedule next year. Playtime before lunchtime, thirty-minute lunch periods, and lunch service at more appropriate times will result in less food waste in school.

Cafeteria Trays Encourage Food Waste


1
Imagine you're having lunch with your classmates in the school cafeteria. After finishing, Sally takes her tray to the trash and throws out what's left on it, including most of her tossed green salad. Then Sam chucks out half a banana. Every day, hundreds of Sallys and Sams dump perfectly good food into the garbage. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency did a study of school waste in April 2010. The study found that students in six elementary, middle, and high schools discarded about 24 percent of what they didn't eat. Food waste in the schools costs money and energy and is bad for the environment. It's time to stop the problem of food waste in schools.


2
I believe the best solution for the reduction of food waste is to get rid of cafeteria lunch trays because trayless lunches help cut waste. Most of us who carry a tray cram on more food than we can eat. If students don't carry plastic, paper, or foam trays, they are less likely to pile on too much food. Therefore, less unwanted food ends up in the garbage.


3
In 2008, Aramark Higher Education Food Services conducted a survey of twenty-five colleges and universities. This survey showed that each student wasted 25 to 30 percent less food when not using a tray. Furthermore, third-grade students in New Jersey's Holland Township School experimented with trayless Fridays beginning on December 13, 2013. The students weighed the trash to keep track of how much was thrown away. Without lunch trays, the amount of lunchroom trash dropped by about one third.




4
For this reason, I support having our school cafeteria stop using trays. This will help reduce food waste in our school. Of course, some students will object because it's easier and more convenient to use a tray. We're all used to having a tray to carry our plates, glasses, and silverware. However, the evidence is clear. Schools without trays do report less food waste.


5
Will we wipe out food waste completely if we have a trayless cafeteria? No. Students will still throw away food they don't eat whether or not they use trays.

Resize Columns
Question 5.a



This question has two parts. Answer Part A, and then answer Part B.
Part A

Determine how the author of "Better Lunch Schedules Reduce Plate Waste" uses argumentative techniques to present an argument.

Author's Claim (from paragraph 1):
In my opinion, the best way to get our students to waste less food is by changing our lunch schedules dramatically.

Which sentence BEST describes how the author supports this claim with relevant evidence?

The author uses personal stories instead of data to explain why food waste is a problem in schools.

The author appeals mainly to emotion by describing how students feel when they have short lunch periods.

The author gives several reasons that focus on how adjusting the school lunch schedule could reduce food waste, then supports each reason with specific studies and examples

Answer 1

The third sentence is best: the author gives several reasons for changing the lunch schedule (recess before lunch, longer lunches, faster service) and supports each with specific studies and examples (e.g., National Food Service Management Institute statistics and the 2003 study).