As the year comes to a close, we wanted to share a story that captures what this work is really about — people, learning, and growing something positive together.

Over the past term, Llanfoist Fawr Primary School has been taking part in a Food Waste to Health pilot, supported by Food Monmouthshire, Monmouthshire Food Partnership, and Agriton UK. The aim is simple but powerful: to turn everyday food waste from the school kitchen into healthy, living soil, while helping children understand where food comes from, why waste matters, and how soil supports life.

🌱 Making Composting Child-Friendly (and Fun)

Rather than starting with bins and systems, we started with stories.

The children were introduced to the Compost Crew — friendly, invisible helpers living in the soil. These tiny microbes (or “superheroes”, as the pupils quickly decided!) are responsible for turning food waste into compost.

By framing composting this way, pupils immediately understood a big idea:
soil is alive — and we can look after it.

🍌 The Banana Game: Learning Through Everyday Food

One of the highlights was a simple but brilliant activity:
Eat it? Save it? Compost it?

Using bananas — perfect ones, bruised ones, peels, and even the banana sticker — children discussed what should be eaten, saved, composted, or binned. It sparked laughter, debate, and real learning about food value and waste.

Moments like this show that food education doesn’t need to be complicated — it just needs to be relatable.

🪱 Turning Food Waste into Living Soil

The pupils then got hands-on with Bokashi composting, learning how food waste can be safely fermented before becoming compost. Adding Bokashi bran (described as superhero dust) gave children a real sense of participation and ownership.

The session ended with a shared Compost Crew Pledge — a moment of pride, teamwork, and connection:

We save food.
We make soil.
We help the planet.
We are the Compost Crew.

🌍 Why Projects Like This Matter

This pilot shows how composting can be about much more than waste reduction.

When done well, it supports:

food awareness and healthier attitudes to eating
hands-on science and outdoor learning
wellbeing through connection to nature
community impact, as compost is shared beyond the school

It also fits naturally with the wider goals of Food Monmouthshire — strengthening local food systems and reconnecting people with food, soil, and health.

🌱 Could This Work in Your School or Community?

If you’re part of a:

school or nursery
local authority or food partnership
community growing project
wellbeing or sustainability initiative

and you’re wondering how to reduce food waste in a way that genuinely engages people, this approach can be adapted to your local setting.

At Agriton UK, we support projects from initial ideas through to training, setup, and ongoing guidance — always shaped around the people involved and the outcomes you want to achieve.

🎁 A Christmas Thank You (and an Invitation)

As we head into the festive break, we’d like to thank Llanfoist Fawr Primary School, Food Monmouthshire, and everyone involved in making this pilot such a success.

If you’d like to explore running a similar project in your local area, please get in touch — we’d love to talk.

🌱 Let’s turn food waste into living soil, together.
🎄 From all of us at Agriton UK — Merry Christmas and a hopeful New Year.

🎄 From Food Waste to Living Soil: A Christmas Story from Llanfoist Fawr Primary