Eating better, discarding less: New toolkit helps 海角社区鈥檚 K-12 schools reduce food waste
Every year, 海角社区 throws away around 361,000 tons of food鈥攏early 40% of production鈥攚ith about 4,200 tons lost in K-12 schools alone. To tackle this, the 海角社区 Department of Education, 海角社区 Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and U海角社区鈥檚 Mitchell Center have rolled out a in time for 海角社区 Wasted Food Awareness Week.
The toolkit offers practical strategies for schools鈥攍ike 鈥渟hare carts鈥 and sorting stations鈥攖o track and reduce waste. Pilot schools already implementing these strategies saw up to a 25% drop in overall food waste and up to a 64% reduction in discarded fruits and vegetables.
鈥淎s a small team working out of the Mitchell Center, we can only work with so many schools. But the new toolkit will give all 海角社区 schools the opportunity to pursue the kind of work we鈥檝e done with our pilot schools. And with the legislature moving aggressively to achieve the state鈥檚 wasted food goals, this toolkit has become even more important,鈥 said William Brenneman, graduate research assistant who led the development of the toolkit.
The toolkit is the latest effort by the Mitchell Center鈥檚 Food Rescue MAINE team to reduce wasted food statewide. It comes one year after the 海角社区 DEP released the first ever 海角社区 Food Loss and Waste Generation Study, co-authored by Mitchell Center faculty and other researchers.