The Golden Plate: A Student Blueprint for Turning Food Waste Into Climate Action
- Jayden Leung
- Oct 5
- 4 min read
How students at St. Andrew’s College (Aurora, Ontario) are tackling food waste through creativity and advocacy
[Source: St. Andrew’s College Environmental Council]
24 September 2025
By Jayden Leung
Imagine one billion meals disappearing into the trash every single day.
That’s what happens when one-fifth of the world’s food goes to waste — even though we already have enough to feed everyone on the planet. According to the UN World Food Programme, this amounts to one billion meals scraped into the trash every single day. For students, this crisis begins close to home: in the cafeteria.
School cafeterias around the world have become ground zero for teaching food awareness and shaping more sustainable eating habits.
At St. Andrew’s College in Canada, food waste in the dining hall has long been a challenge. Every month, 10,500 pounds of food waste are picked up by Kevron Recycling from the school.
Now, the student-led Environmental Council is tackling the problem head-on by educating the student body and rewarding mindful eating through their playful new initiative: the Golden Plate.
What is the Golden Plate?
A student at St. Andrew’s receives the ‘Golden Plate’ award during assembly
The Golden Plate is a weekly award that celebrates students and staff who consistently finish their meals with the least amount of food left on their plate. Every week, members of the Environmental Council, known as “The Green Guys,” will stand behind the trash and compost bins, keeping track of all the clean and dirty plates during meals.
Each week, two lucky, eco-minded participants earn not just bragging rights from carrying a shiny gold plate, but the coveted opportunity to skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner line and choose their favourite meal.
By celebrating the sustainable actions of remarkable individuals in our community, the Environmental Council at St. Andrew’s has proven that we can make saving the environment fun, visible, and rewarding for all.
For Grade 12 student Andrew Herrnstein, his passion to help kickstart the Golden Plate initiative started on a “random Wednesday morning” in the Cole Dining Hall.
While eating lunch and chatting with his friends, Herrnstein watched every one of them leave the table with plates still covered in food.
Andrew Herrnstein, Grade 12 student at St. Andrew’s College, tracking dirty plates as “The Green Guy”
“My friends still had whole chicken thighs, uneaten broccoli, and half-finished bowls of pasta left behind,” he recalled. “And they would all scrape it into the bins, toss the plates into the trays, and leave without a concern.”
St. Andrew’s Green Team Leader, Mr. Jaekel, dives deep into the inner workings of the food we waste and the magnitude of this long-standing dilemma. In an episode of “Green Guy Asks,” a video campaign series designed to educate SAC students and staff about environmental issues, Jaekel highlights what makes the SAC Dining Hall a standout among school cafeterias across Canada.
“The food at St. Andrew’s is so good—It’s one of the best parts of the school,” he claims. “[But] did you know that over 1600 meals are served to students and staff every day?”
Before the Golden Plate award, “on average, more than half of all the plates at lunch were dirty,” Ottakar Kueper, a graduate of the class of ‘25, explained. “Over the last year, [though], we were able to reduce food waste from nearly 70% to 30%.”
The results speak for themselves—a clear sign of changing habits. But the impact goes far beyond the numbers. It has brought sustainability into the limelight, making it a part of daily school culture to this day.
[Source: Green Schools Alliance]
Coding a Greener Plate
The Golden Plate continues to evolve. The Environmental Council is piloting new policies and student-driven tech tools to make food waste reduction even more impactful. One student has even created an app that any school can use to track clean plates and monitor progress. Learn more at: goldenplate.club.
The Golden Plate Tracking System
From One Cafeteria to Many
The strength of the Golden Plate lies in its simplicity and visibility. It doesn’t depend on costly systems or complex technology — instead, it harnesses fun, recognition, and a touch of friendly competition to inspire change. Its straightforward design makes it easy for schools to adopt and scale, and already, independent schools across Ontario, Mexico, and the United States have woven this playful initiative into their own sustainability agendas.
Watch a Golden Plate Intro from Matthew Jaekel and a Student Follow-Up from St. Andrew’s College!
The Takeaway for Schools
Sustainability doesn’t always demand sweeping infrastructure overhauls. Sometimes the most powerful solutions are student-driven, visible, and engaging. The Golden Plate shows how giving youth ownership and celebrating progress publicly can spark culture shifts that endure.
For the R.A.D. Initiative, it’s a clear example of the NEXUS framework in action — where real change emerges from youth leadership, proving that students are not just participants in sustainability, but catalysts for it.
Written by Jayden Leung, Canada Chapter Executive, R.A.D. Initiative
Thanks for reading. Are there issues you'd like us to cover? Environmental issues you want to stay informed about? Do you want to share your sustainability initiatives? Learn more about youth-led sustainability at https://www.radinitiative.org/.
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