FoodLabHome makes food waste, a significant but long-disregarded source of greenhouse gas emissions, the subject of an innovative and participatory educational intervention. Students from different types of schools research the climate relevance of food waste in their households, develop effective intervention strategies and contribute measurably to climate protection through food waste reductions.

The aim is to develop an innovative and participatory approach to education based on the principles of research-based learning. Students at general and vocational schools become researchers themselves, and their households laboratories. In the educational intervention, the students investigate the occurrence, composition and causes of food waste in their own households and analyze their climate relevance. In a second step, they develop and test ways to reduce food waste in private households. In doing so, they use various nudging measures that have proven to be effective intervention techniques in other areas of consumption. They then reflect on the effectiveness and potential of intervention strategies to avoid food waste as a contribution to climate protection.

The project target group are young people at the end of their general or vocational schooling. They directly participate in the intervention and pass on their experiences to their households. The educational intervention is accompanied by various transfer activities aimed at reaching a broad public. The involvement of teachers and training for educational multipliers aims to ensure that the innovative learning approach is established on a long-term basis and made available for climate education.

Teebeutel und Apfelschalen als Umweltsünder? „FoodLabHome“ sensibilisiert Jugendliche durch „Forschendes Lernen“ für das Thema Klimaschutz.
Article on page 11 of tu intern 01/2020.