The Clean Plate Club 

By Lucy Copans

The Earth Club introduced the Clean Plate Club to an audience of students at the fall celebration in October. In the weeks prior, they hung black and white posters throughout the school with pictures of people holding clean plates in front of their faces and a caption that read “CPC”. At the initial presentation they explained that the club is a way to incentivise a reduction of food waste at school, using a reward system involving raffle tickets and gift certificates.

Students who present a clean plate at the end of lunch receive a raffle ticket, making them eligible for prizes.

In the past few months CPC has successfully garnered the student body’s attention, in part due to their reward system, which involves a raffle ticket being picked every week. The winner gets a $20 gift certificate to a downtown restaurant and a bottle of Solon Spice hot sauce. The restaurant that is offered as a prize changes every week to spread support to different downtown businesses. Sales of the hot sauce and Solon Honey fund the raffle prize.

Motivation was a key component in the club’s plan. 

“We talked about it for a month at the Earth Club. Initially we were going to have a contest between grades,” said Earth Club advisor and science teacher, Mr. Sabo. 

In the past the school community has participated in an activity named Composter of the Week which also used a sort of reward system. 

“They would get their picture… and the whole cafeteria was ringed with different compsters of the week,” said Mr. Sabo. 

Composer of the Week was also about the school’s carbon footprint regarding food. Composting is better than throwing food away, but still not the most ideal option.                   

“Composting is... the second worst thing you can do,” said Mr. Sabo. 

He explained how composting wastes energy. 

“So much energy goes into the food we eat, and when you throw that away–compost or otherwise–you're wasting all the energy that goes into that food.”

The goal of the Clean Plate Club is to eliminate food waste completely by encouraging students to think about what they are putting on their plates.

MHS senior, Amaini Sutter, commented on the new enterprise saying, “I hope that it continues to move forward and people are participating more and more and people are emphasizing less waste.”