Story originally published by “Tray Talk” on April 8, 2025 https://traytalk.org/2025/04/08/utah-elementary-lunchroom-leads-the-way-in-food-waste-diversion/
At Academy Park Elementary near Salt Lake City, sustainability isn’t a buzzword, it’s a practice woven into the fabric of the school’s daily cafeteria operations. Thanks to the hard work of head custodian Rylie Ogden, the school is leading by example with their innovative food waste diversion process. The initiative is a perfect blend of education, teamwork and commitment to preserving the planet for future generations.
The program, launched in 2021, began with the kitchen staff sorting food scraps into buckets for donation. A year later, Ogden expanded the initiative to the lunchroom, encouraging students to get involved in the effort. She taught them to sort their leftovers into designated bins—one for food waste, one for recyclables, and one for trash—making sustainability a part of their daily routine.
“The kids are very engaged with it,” said Ogden. “Even the kindergartners are excited to separate their waste. It’s really about encouraging them to take action, both in school and in their everyday lives.”
The school also emphasizes food sharing. Students place unopened food or uneaten fruit in shared baskets, allowing others to take them. This reduces waste and encourages students to think about how their actions can help others
Ogden plays a major role in the next steps of the diversion program, loading her car twice a week with buckets of food waste adding up to about 70 gallons weekly. She transports the waste to Wasatch Resource Recovery (WRR), a local facility that focuses on food waste diversion. At WRR, the waste is stored in anaerobic digesters where it is heated to help microbes break down the organic material without using oxygen. This process produces biogas, which is captured, cleaned and turned into biomethane (renewable natural gas). This gas is then fed into the local pipeline and sold as green energy, enough to power around 15,000 homes or 40,000 people. The remaining product is a nutrient-rich, carbon-based fertilizer used to grow crops.
The school’s efforts aren’t just about diverting waste, they’re about creating a culture of sustainability that students will carry with them long after they leave Academy Park Elementary. Ogden’s leadership and commitment to this program have sparked interest in other schools in the Granite School District. While it is still unique to Academy Park, there’s hope that the program will continue to grow and inspire others to take similar steps.
As Ogden said, “These kids are the future, and if we don’t teach them now how to take care of the environment, what will the world look like when they’re in charge?”