Eat Smart

The Eat Smart program, delivered in County Durham by educators from REfUSE Café, offers a 6-week intensive intervention to schools interested in reducing food waste on site. Pupil teams at each school – the Waste Warriors – partner with REfUSE and create an action plan for continued school waste-reduction efforts. In 2024, REfUSE engaged OASES as a partner to support Waste Warrior groups that prioritised composting or food-growing on site. Between spring 2024 and autumn 2025, OASES has worked with five schools in this capacity. Pupils at Newker Primary grew food for use in the school kitchen. Witton Gilbert pupils upgraded their composting system and produced a video to encourage other schools to compost food waste. Waste Warrior groups at Cestria, King Street and Langley Moor Primaries learned about worm composting and installed wormeries to divert school snack waste from the waste stream.