The Ort Report

To reduce food waste at Solar Youth Summer Camp, our Director, Hanifa Washington, instituted the Ort Report. Ort is wasted food and if the campers are able to get a pound of less of Ort in any given day for lunch, Hanifa promised she would shave her eyebrows. This motivated many of the campers to eat more of their lunch, turn down food they didn't really want and to be aware of others' waste production. Jerry (below, below) even collected several servings of unwanted bologna and stuffed them in his sandwich in an effort to lower the Ort levels.

Every day, after lunch, campers split their Ort into two categories. The Meatless Ort includes organics, such as fruit, juice, vegetables, bread from sandwiches and graham crackers. This Ort is collected throughout the week and then taken to Common Ground Farm on Springside Avenue. Common Ground has a huge compost pile and Solar Youth's Meatless Ort is returning to the earth to fertilize other crops. The Other Ort, which consists of animal products, is milk, meat and cheese. This Ort is simply disposed of, since it cannot be composted (see photo above, left).

Each day, Miss Hanifa selects a different group of youth to go out in the hall and prepare the Ort Report. Of course there is a song and a little dance that goes with it:

The Ort Report for Days 1 through 7
Day 1 - 5 pounds
Day 2 - 3.5 pounds
Day 3 - 2.5 pounds
Day 4 - 1.5 pounds
Day 5 - 1.5 pounds
Day 6 - Ort was not reported
Day 7 - HALF A POUND!