Think before You Waste is an eTwinning project dedicated to raising environmental awareness and preventing waste. Our team, consisting of eco-conscious individuals united by the goal of promoting sustainable practices, aims at reducing waste and encouraging mindful consumption. We are driven by the vision of leaving a cleaner, healthier planet for future generations. The project lasted from October 2024 to January 2025. Partners involved: Italy, Romania, Turkey, North Macedonia; number of participants: 15 schools, 19 teachers, 143 students.
Project founders: Gözde Saka Uyanık – Şehit Kübra Doğanay Imam Hatip Ortaokulu, Turkey; Tatiana Bejan – Liceul „Profesor Mihai Dumitri”, Romania. Project members: Munteanu Silvia, Colegiul Național Pedagogic „D.P.Perpessicius”, Braila, Romania; Luisa Cento, Patrizia Paolinelli – ICS „Marco Polo-Viani” di Viareggio, Italy; Elizabeta Matic – OOU „Dimitar Makedonski”, North Macedonia, EMİNE KAN – Bozüyük Kız Anadolu İmam Hatip Lisesi, Turkey; Didem Keskin Çayır-700. Yıl Osmangazi Ortaokulu, Turkey; Kartal Kamil Kinsiz – Dumlupınar Ortaokulu, Turkey.
Project link: school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projects/think-you-waste/twinspace
Project introduction video: https://youtu.be/pcCNHD426fw
Argument
As the world population increases and environmental issues intensify, we need to become more aware of food sustainability. This project aims at teaching students the importance of food sustainability and at showing how small changes in their daily lives can have a positive impact on the environment. Students will monitor food waste at school and at home, brainstorm creative strategies like composting, creating leftover recipes, and running awareness campaigns. Through simple research, digital creations, and collaborative activities, students will learn to reduce food waste, make sustainable food choices, and share what they have learned with others.
Objectives
- Raise awareness about food sustainability and the environmental impact of daily habits
- Encourage students to take small steps to reduce food waste and make sustainable food choices
- Examine the common causes of food waste at home and on a larger scale (e.g. restaurants, stores) and propose solutions
- Promote sustainable practices: introduce waste reduction strategies such as composting, meal planning, and creatively using leftovers
- Develop digital literacy and teamwork skills through various Web 2.0 tools
- Strengthen collaboration by promoting cultural exchange among students from different countries
Working plan
In October, we laid the foundation for our `Think Before You Waste` project and completed our initial activities. During this time, we shared project information with both students and parents, prepared our school project board, and designed creative posters and logos. We selected the project logo through a student vote, ensuring everyone felt part of the project.
Each teacher created their introduction avatar, and then the students prepared their avatars, making short videos where they introduced themselves and discussed food consumption habits in their countries. These videos were a great way to reflect cultural diversity and help us get to know each other better. We held our first student meeting and organized a fun kahoot quiz to test their knowledge on food waste. To celebrate World Food Day, we worked on an acrostic activity that emphasized food sustainability and waste. Additionally, we prepared a brochure with tips on presenting food waste and shared it with our partners. Through these activities, students gained initial insights into presenting food waste while also experiencing creativity, collaboration and digital tool use.
In November, our `Think Before You Waste` project was all about getting hands-on, creative, and impactful, as we tackled food waste and embraced sustainable living. We started with a compost workshop where students learned how food scraps can be transformed into nutrient-rich compost instead of ending up in landfills. It felt like turning trash into treasure and gave everyone a deeper appreciation for nature’s recycling system. Then came the fun of creating mini gardens! Students planted seeds, nurtured their tiny green spaces, and experienced the joy of growing their own food-showing that sustainable living can be both rewarding and beautiful. To top it all off, students became photographers for a week, documenting leftover food in their daily lives for our Food Waste Album. This activity opened up meaningful discussions about why food is wasted. It was eye-opening and inspiring to see how change can start with awareness. Through these activities, we aimed to show that small actions, like composting, gardening, and reflecting on our habits, can make a big difference. Along the way, we worked as a team, learned from each other, and strengthened our connection with international partners, all while planting the seeds for a greener, waste-free future!
In December, we had a blast with our students through creative and educational activities! They wrote and illustrated themed stories to create a digital book, designed a 2025 calendar featuring seasonal fruits and vegetables, learned about food sustainability through farm visits or farmer talks, and explored innovative ways to reuse food waste by creating fun videos for a competition. Our students learned, created, and had so much fun along the way!
In January, we created a collage with the initials of the project, which was our visual representation to kick off the month. Students collaborated in writing the digital storybook Sophia reducing food footprints school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/etwinning/projects/think-you-waste/twinspace/pages/final-product
Each country was assigned a certain chapter in the book to be written and hand illustrated (e.g. `Grow your own food`, `Only buy what you need`, `Eat less meat and dairy`, `Buy local food in season`, `Eat less processed food`). We also made an audio book version.
We also performed another activity, entitled `Food Waste Art`, which was both creative and educational. We cut the picture of the book cover we designed into pieces and shared the pieces with our project partners. The pictures were completed with food scraps. We combined the pictures we received from our project partners in canva. The result was a beautiful design, which students absolutely loved creating!
What is more, we designed an international recipe book to prevent food waste, which was meant to add further impact to the project.
Our final collaborative product – `Welcome to our virtual exhibition!` showcases the photos of our project through an interactive virtual museum application, offering visitors the opportunity to explore our work in a digital environment.
www.spatial.io/s/THINK-BEFORE-YOU-WASTE-EXHIBITION-67857beae3dd2286841ab5e3?share=3600017385714413280
Finally, we organized the Teacher closing meeting (to review progress and gather feedback), the Student closing meeting (to get the students’ input and reflections), the Final surveys (to collect data on what worked well and to identify areas for improvement) and distributed certificates to recognize the participants’ committed efforts.
Expected outcomes
- Students will develop creative ways to use leftovers
- Students will understand the scale of global and local food waste
- Students will become more aware of how much food they waste and the factors contributing to it
- Students will learn the basics of composting and how it reduces landfill waste
- Students will reduce food waste at home by applying the strategies they learned in the project
- Students will improve their digital literacy by using various Web 2.0 tools
- Students will enhance their collaboration skills through international teamwork
This project has been more than just an educational initiative; it has been a shared experience of learning, growing, and making a difference together. Though the project is coming to an end, the impact of `Think Before You Waste` will continue. It is just the beginning of a lifelong commitment to a better, more sustainable world! The lessons we have learned, the friendships we have built, and the awareness we have raised will stay with us. I truly believe that each of us will carry forward the responsibility of making more mindful choices regarding food and sustainability.