Prince Charles Launches 'Food for the Future' Program Aiming to Eliminate Waste

prince charles
prince charles

Chris Jackson/Getty Prince Charles

Prince Charles has launched a new program aimed at educating students on how to eliminate food waste in the United Kingdom.

On Wednesday, the 72-year-old royal announced the new initiative, titled Food for the Future, in an op-ed for The Daily Mirror. The goal is to give secondary school children "a comprehensive understanding of how our food system works and discover alternative approaches that are better for nature, people and the planet."

The educational program, which operates through The Prince's Foundation, will bring in experts including farmer Jimmy Doherty and chef Jamie Oliver.

Students will receive hands-on experience in sustainable and locally sourced farming, as well as learn about food-processing systems.

Prince Charles wrote Wednesday that he felt compelled to start the program because "it is young people's futures I am most concerned about."

"If we can encourage and enable them to see that the food they eat is part of a joined-up system which can either help or hinder the health of the planet, they will be much more able to help turn the situation around to avoid the climate catastrophe towards which we are all hurtling," he said, adding: "All they need do is make informed choices to help cut the colossal amount of food we waste."

Prince Charles said his hope is that the program will not only encourage families to eliminate food waste, it will also ease stress on farmers to produce copious amounts of food from "struggling soils" and, in turn, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

RELATED: Royal Photographer Shares 'Snap Judgments' from Working with Harry, William, the Queen and More

Prince Charles
Prince Charles

Jacob King - WPA Pool/Getty Prince Charles on Tuesday

While British manufacturers have already begun to take steps toward a more sustainable food sector, Prince Charles wrote that he thought "much more could be done if we, the consumers, are better informed and lead the way."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"At present, as many scientists have been trying to get across, we are breaching what they call 'planetary boundaries,' to the extent that we need four planet Earths to sustain the current and projected demands we make on this one, precious planet," he added. "For this reason, I have spent some 40 years of my life trying to indicate what needs to be done to ensure we do not bequeath a destroyed world to our children and our grandchildren."

He concluded, "As you can imagine, therefore, I would be delighted to see them playing an active part in ensuring that their future is a healthy and prosperous one, and to do so fully informed about how profoundly their health depends upon the health of the planet that sustains them."