Nationwide Grants Encourage Schools To Serve Bulk Milk, Enhancing Sustainability And Nutrition

Last year, an impressive number of over 95,000 schools across the United States provided K-12 students with around 4.6 billion lunches and 2.4 billion breakfasts. A notable shift in how these meals are served could significantly diminish food and packaging waste, reduce costs in the long run, and enhance student nutrition. A pivotal move for schools is the shift from single-use milk cartons or bottles to bulk dispensing systems.

The USDA mandates that all K-12 schools must include milk in their breakfast and lunch offerings. Currently, schools serve approximately 275 million cartons of milk every school day. By adopting bulk milk dispensers and reusable cups, schools can significantly reduce both packaging and fluid milk waste, a major contributor to school food waste.

To facilitate this transition, the Chef Ann Foundation introduced the Bulk Milk program in 2023. This initiative provides schools with the necessary equipment, materials, and training to implement a bulk milk serving system. The foundation recently announced a new round of grants for which school districts are encouraged to apply.

So far, the Chef Ann Foundation has awarded 43 Bulk Milk grants across 18 school districts in 11 states. Ryan Mikolaycik, Food Service Director at Austin Independent School District in Texas—a recipient of Bulk Milk grants for three schools—shared their success in reducing milk and packaging waste since making the switch to bulk milk.

Adopting bulk milk dispensers not only contributes to environmental sustainability by saving 30 pounds of carbon dioxide per student annually but also offers significant cost savings on waste hauling, milk purchasing, and refrigeration. Laura Smith, Executive Director of Programs at Chef Ann Foundation, emphasized the substantial sustainability savings for school districts transitioning to bulk milk.

A study by the World Wildlife Fund on school milk waste and consumption revealed that schools utilizing bulk milk dispensers see an increase in milk consumption among students, thereby supporting better nutrition. Moreover, students have reported a preference for the taste of milk dispensed from temperature-controlled bulk systems over traditional cartons.

Lisa Seiber, Food Service Director for Trenton Special School District in Tennessee, which received Bulk Milk grants for three schools in 2023, highlighted their goal to serve more USDA reimbursable meals including bulk milk due to its superior taste.

Schools participating in the National School Lunch Program have until June 27, 2024, to apply for a Bulk Milk grant through this link. This round of grants has been made possible with funding support from Elevance Health Foundation, with initial pilot and launch funding provided by the Posner Foundation.