Face the Waste

You’ll know it’s lunchtime at Sonoma Academy by the horde of hungry students waiting to rush into the GAC. This familiar scene also indicates one of the biggest problems in our midst—their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. While SA is known for offering a bountiful buffet of fresh and healthy meal options, copious amounts of food still finds its way into the landfill each day.

Students are aware of the problem. When asked how often she sees food in the trash, Valeria Rosas (‘27) said, “Daily. It’s really sad to see how much [food] ends up being thrown away untouched.” Aali Trejo (‘27) offered some insight on why this may be happening: “I think there’s just so much [food] available that people don’t even give it a second thought. It’s unlike any other school I’ve been to.”

According to a 2025 study conducted by Kelly Castañeda’s Global Citizenship class, Sonoma Academy produces approximately 1,000 pounds of food waste per week, which accumulates to 36,000 pounds of waste throughout the school year.

It goes on to say that wasted food takes up roughly 22 percent of U.S. landfills, making it the largest contributing factor. Food waste is not only a cultural problem that, when normalized, spurs an influx of entitlement, but also has detrimental effects on our planet and lower-income communities.

When I was seven years old, I volunteered with my tía at Redwood Empire Food Bank filling grocery bags with fruit, pre-bagged beans and pasta. Once, I asked her who the bags were for, and she explained that there were people and families in our community who didn’t have access to food and would come to the food bank to get their groceries.

Up until then, it hadn’t occurred to me how scary it would feel to be hungry and not have food to eat. That moment left a lasting impact on me that rises up every time I see full plates of perfectly good food being thrown away in the GAC.

The societal practice of disregard towards uneaten food is tragically disproportionate to the 2.3 billion people currently facing food insecurity, according to a 2025 UN report published by Action Against Hunger. We are up against a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe.

So what can be done?

The solution is simple: self service should no longer be an option. Instead, kitchen staff could portion out and serve the food, eliminating the tendency of students to over-serve themselves. This is already being done in the allergy line, proving it is feasible and effective.

This proposal works on more than one level, both by directly avoiding excess food waste by encouraging people to only plate what they plan to eat, and simultaneously building a connection between students and the kitchen staff.

While some might argue that a con to implementing food service in the lunch line is that it would increase expenses, cutting down on waste would create a clearer image of how much food our community actually needs, which would allow the school to cut back costs on ingredients that would otherwise be tossed out.

Especially since Sonoma Academy prides itself on the relationships between its students and staffulty, having students call teachers by their first names to encourage rapport. Doesn’t it seem wrong that most students don’t even know the cooks’ names?

This newfound connection would not only enrich the strong and unique community that is so important to SA’s culture, but also cultivate awareness surrounding the hard work that goes into preparing a meal. From the farmers and the truck drivers who transport the harvest, to the cooks who prepare it and the staff that clean up the GAC, there are hundreds of hours of unseen labor that go into just one day of lunch.

An additional benefit to the proposed solution is that it lowers the risk of food contamination, opening up the possibility of donation as opposed to discard. Similar to a soup kitchen, Sonoma Academy could partner with local food banks to coordinate the distribution of remaining food to those in need.

As a student at SA, I could not conclude this article without first acknowledging that I, too, have played a part in the flaws of our community. While it’s easy to blame the system, a true solution will require more than just a regulatory fix. We need to own our impact and commit ourselves to making a conscious change. If we want to see a meaningful difference in our waste, we must first address the lack of gratitude in our culture. When it comes to influencing change, our mindsets are just as —if not more powerful than— administrative action. 

A deeper understanding of how everyday decisions contribute to food waste is key to appreciating the privileged position we find ourselves in and, hopefully, making more intentional choices while filling up our plates.