{"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 Maine\u2019s K-12 schools reduce food waste"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Massabesic<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Every year, Maine 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 Maine Department of Education, Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and 91르적\u2019s Mitchell Center have rolled out a \u201cNo More Wasted Food\u201d DIY toolkit<\/a> in time for Maine 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 Maine 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 Maine DEP released the first ever Maine Food Loss and Waste Generation Study<\/a>, co-authored by Mitchell Center faculty and other researchers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpted from a 91르적 News release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year, Maine 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 Maine Department of Education, Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and 91르적\u2019s Mitchell Center have rolled out a \u201cNo More Wasted Food\u201d DIY toolkit in time for Maine 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}]}}