Schools in St Albans and Harpenden are helping to reduce the amount of food wasted in the district.

The Food Waste Project partnered with 10 schools and St Albans council after receiving a £26,700 grant from Sainsbury’s.

The project is designed to encourage pupils to reduce waste during snack and lunch time.

Organiser Ruby Raut said: “We provide every school with a toolkit to help implement initiatives to reduce food waste. The project culminates in an impact report comparing waste levels measured before and after the training.

“We hope to achieve at least 20 to 30 per cent reduction in waste from each school.”

The project found one school wasted more than five tonnes of food every year.

The district’s 72 schools waste around 360 tonnes annually.

Nutrition workshop lead Sabrina said: “We believe education in the schools can help address this huge issue of food waste not just in school but also at home.”