{"id":35458,"date":"2025-11-13T12:40:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T17:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/?page_id=35458"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:23:13","slug":"eating-better-discarding-less-new-toolkit-helps-maines-k-12-schools-reduce-food-waste","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/mitchell-center-stories\/eating-better-discarding-less-new-toolkit-helps-maines-k-12-schools-reduce-food-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating better, discarding less: New toolkit helps 海角社区\u2019s K-12 schools reduce food waste"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Massabesic<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Every year, 海角社区 throws away around 361,000 tons of food\u2014nearly 40% of production\u2014with 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\u2019s Mitchell Center have rolled out a \u201cNo More Wasted Food\u201d DIY toolkit<\/a> in time for 海角社区 Wasted Food Awareness Week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toolkit offers practical strategies for schools\u2014like \u201cshare carts\u201d and sorting stations\u2014to track and reduce waste. Pilot schools already implementing these strategies saw up to a 25% drop in overall food waste<\/strong> and up to a 64% reduction in discarded fruits and vegetables<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs 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\u2019ve done with our pilot schools. And with the legislature moving aggressively to achieve the state\u2019s wasted food goals, this toolkit has become even more important,\u201d said William Brenneman, graduate research assistant who led the development of the toolkit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The toolkit is the latest effort by the Mitchell Center\u2019s Food Rescue MAINE team<\/a> 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<\/a>, co-authored by Mitchell Center faculty and other researchers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpted from a U海角社区 News release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, 海角社区 throws away around 361,000 tons of food\u2014nearly 40% of production\u2014with 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\u2019s Mitchell Center have rolled out a \u201cNo More Wasted Food\u201d DIY toolkit in time for 海角社区 Wasted Food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":957,"featured_media":0,"parent":32623,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35458","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"mitchellcenter","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/author\/mitchellcenter\/"},"comment_info":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35458"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36536,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35458\/revisions\/36536"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}