{"id":166153,"date":"2024-10-28T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T12:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/?p=166153"},"modified":"2024-10-29T09:52:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T13:52:09","slug":"on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Ground With Atlanta Schools Reducing Food Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2016, Carla Harward\u2019s daughter, Sophie, came home from her middle school in Chattooga County and told her mother about two students who hadn\u2019t eaten over the weekend.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI was stunned,\u201d says Harward. \u201cSophie said the little boys were crying because their bellies hurt. We just had no idea there were kids in our community that were hungry.\u201d Harward and some families gathered food for the family, but she knew more had to be done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was her daughter who mentioned all the food going to waste at her school and asked her mom a simple question: Why couldn\u2019t they give families the food from her school instead of throwing it away?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sophie\u2019s idea became the spark that launched the Georgia nonprofit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.helpinghandsendinghunger.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helping Hands Ending Hunger<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which now works with 150 schools throughout the state to divert food waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166155\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166155\" style=\"width: 1080px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"79726b\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #79726b;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166155 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"811\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands1.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands1-461x346.webp 461w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands1-768x577.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166155\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Helping Hands Ending Hunger. Photography courtesy of Carla Harward.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And there\u2019s a lot of food going to waste. A 2019 USDA\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fns-prod.azureedge.us\/sites\/default\/files\/resource-files\/SNMCS_Summary-Findings.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that 31 percent of vegetables and 41 percent of milk were tossed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But those figures are changing. Schools in Atlanta are working to feed hungry families and rethink how they approach school food. Here are three making huge environmental impacts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Helping Hands Ending Hunger<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harward thought her daughter\u2019s idea to repurpose the food kids didn\u2019t eat sounded simple, but the USDA has strict rules on preventing cold cafeteria food from being saved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Harward wasn\u2019t deterred. In 2016, she formed a 501(c)(3) and tested the pilot in her daughter\u2019s school. After lunches, students collected uneaten prepackaged food or dry goods, such as apple sauce, packaged carrots, and unopened milk cartons. The students learned how to safely collect and store the unused food, and then handed it out weekly to families in need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Georgia, that included more than 13 percent of children who lacked access to healthy food in 2022 (the latest numbers available), according to the nonprofit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.feedingamerica.org\/hunger-in-america\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feeding America<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, the Helping Hands program is in 150 Georgia schools and is run by students. \u201cWe now train volunteers and school staff at every school chapter to teach kids that food is not trash,\u201d says Harward.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166156\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166156\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"928261\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #928261;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166156 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands2-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands2-jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/HelpingHands2-260x346.webp 260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166156\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Helping Hands Ending Hunger. Photography courtesy of Carla Harward.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Students at Atlanta Public School\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantapublicschools.us\/domain\/1816\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Springdale Park Elementary School (SPARK)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> STEAM program rescued about 700 pounds of food between February and May 2024 alone, according to Harward. It was repurposed into 566 meals and another 486 pounds of food for the community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFood that can\u2019t be saved is collected in compost buckets in the cafeteria and used in our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlantapublicschools.us\/domain\/17875\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[rooftop] garden<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; nothing goes to waste,\u201d says Kristin Siembieda, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/apsk12.org\/spark-steam\/vision-and-culture\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">STEAM program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> specialist and Helping Hands coordinator at SPARK.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harward says the program works incredibly well. \u201cThese kids are taking charge and are going to be amazing future leaders.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166157\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166157\" style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"9d6e63\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #9d6e63;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166157 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0963-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0963-jpg.webp 1280w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0963-461x346.webp 461w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0963-1200x900.webp 1200w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0963-768x576.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166157\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student weighs out food for compost. Photography courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><b>Food Waste Warriors<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The students at Gwinnett County School\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/schools.gcpsk12.org\/LovinES\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lovin Elementary<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have a warrior mentality when it comes to food waste.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gwinnettcb.org\/programs\/green-and-healthy-schools\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gwinnett Clean &amp; Beautiful\u2019s Green and Healthy Schools<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> had a rare opportunity to participate in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gwinnettcb.org\/gwinnett-clean-beautiful-and-world-wildlife-fund-awarded-epa-grant\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">new initiative of the World Wildlife Fund<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwildlife.org\/stories\/food-waste-warriors\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food Waste Warriors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> program.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166158\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166158\" style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"867c6b\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #867c6b;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166158 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0959-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0959-jpg.webp 1280w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0959-461x346.webp 461w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0959-1200x900.webp 1200w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0959-768x576.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166158\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A presentation by the Food Waste Warriors. Photography courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe World Wildlife Fund was looking for systems to collect data for its first food waste report, and to help write curriculum around how to do food waste audits,\u201d says <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gwinnettcounty.com\/departments\/countyadministrator\/gwinnettcleanbeautiful\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gwinnett Clean &amp; Beautiful<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> board member Jay Bassett, who also works for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). \u201cThe Green and Healthy Schools program was already established [at Gwinnett County Schools], so we did it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019, Gwinnett County Schools enlisted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/schools.gcpsk12.org\/LovinES\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lovin Elementary<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Lawrenceville to be part of the Food Waste Warriors program, conducting food waste audits. They sorted milk, fruits, and vegetables left on lunch trays into buckets and weighed it all. They were shocked that the school had trashed almost 600 pounds of food \u2014 in one day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166159\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166159\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"a08480\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #a08480;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166159 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0965-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0965-jpg.webp 960w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0965-260x346.webp 260w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0965-768x1024.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166159\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Collecting food for a waste audit. Photography courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirteen Gwinnett County Schools completed the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/files.worldwildlife.org\/wwfcmsprod\/files\/Publication\/file\/21242e75x9_FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">31 food waste audits<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the WWF\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/files.worldwildlife.org\/wwfcmsprod\/files\/Publication\/file\/21242e75x9_FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food Waste Warriors report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The data for Gwinnett County Schools was eye-opening: On average, 95,169 pounds of food per school, per year was wasted, and 49.4 pounds of food per student, per year was wasted, as well as almost <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/files.worldwildlife.org\/wwfcmsprod\/files\/Publication\/file\/21242e75x9_FoodWasteWarriorR_CS_121819.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">56,000 cartons of milk<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> per school, per year.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"mfo-wysiwyg-custom-cta read-more\">\n<div class=\"mfo-wysiwyg-custom-cta-flex\">\n<p><a class=\"full\" title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/09\/californias-food-recovery-new\/\">full_link<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"flex\">\n<p class=\"title mfo-wysiwyg-custom-cta-title h1\">READ MORE<\/p>\n<div class=\"description\">\n<p>California&#8217;s food recovery program is the first of its kind in the country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"svg mfo-wysiwyg-custom-cta-svg\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first 31 audits launched the ongoing relationship with the WWF and Gwinnett County Schools, which continues to focus on K-12 education. Today, the Food Waste Warriors program is a critical part of the Green and Healthy Schools and STEAM education within Gwinnett County Schools, which is the largest in Georgia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe most important thing about the Food Waste Warrior program is the students tackle every aspect of the project,\u201d says Brenda McDaniel, environmental education manager, Gwinnett County Schools. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about doing food waste audits; the students must come up with solutions to tackle the problems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That first student-led audit at Lovin Elementary provided the school with different resolutions it has now implemented, including serving food differently to reduce packaging waste, eliminating straws and breakfast cutlery, and using biodegradable trays.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166160\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166160\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"6c6051\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #6c6051;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166160 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0971-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0971-jpg.webp 960w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0971-260x346.webp 260w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0971-768x1024.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166160\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tending to the compost. Photography courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Third-graders now collect food scraps that would be trashed at the end of lunch and add them to the compost bin that\u2019s part of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodwellalliance.org\/compost-connectors\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Food Well Alliance\u2019s Compost Connectors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> program. They learn about composting in STEAM classes and how to use it to fertilize their gardens and help feed the school\u2019s chickens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First- and third-graders have improved their skillsets in science and math so much, the county revised its middle school curriculum to accommodate their new abilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI never envisioned where this would go,\u201d says Bassett. \u201cWe just wanted to change policy on how to reduce waste in cafeterias. That led to systemically building this culture around agriculture, nature-based learning, biology and engineering. Reducing food waste is just a small part of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Raccoon Eyes<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Georgia Tech in Atlanta is synonymous with engineering, prestigious research and cutting-edge technology. Soon, its dining services could be a leader in what universities can do to cut down on food waste in their dining halls, thanks to Tech students Bruce Tan, Ivan Zou, and Nathanael Koh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The three students focused their <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/make\/create-x-capstone\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CREATE-X Capstone<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is an undergraduate senior design course for entrepreneurial projects, on reducing food waste on campus because of the amount of food being trashed in the university dining halls. Their solution: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/raccooneyesai.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raccoon Eyes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe eye-opener for me was a time I was in the kitchen at the end of lunch service,\u201d says Zou. \u201cA worker pushed in carts full of food that were going straight to the trash.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166161\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166161\" style=\"width: 1280px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-dominant-color=\"6b6f61\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #6b6f61;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166161 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0967-jpg.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0967-jpg.webp 1280w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0967-461x346.webp 461w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0967-1200x900.webp 1200w, https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0967-768x576.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166161\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tending to the school&#8217;s compost piles. Photography courtesy of Gwinnett County Public Schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raccoon Eyes has two components: 3D cameras and a computer screen on the dining hall trash cans. The 3D cameras take pictures of every plate and calculate the type and weight of food waste going into the trash using software the three students developed. The computer screen uses visual and audio to collect feedback about the food and to nudge students about future food waste.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During the period between Jan. 11 and May 2, 2024, the system tracked and measured the amount of food waste on more than 240,000 plates at Tech. While there was still about an ounce of food left on each plate, the overall amount of food being tossed dropped by 19 percent during the semester.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2016, Carla Harward\u2019s daughter, Sophie, came home from her middle school in Chattooga County and told her mother about two students who hadn\u2019t eaten over the weekend.\u00a0 &nbsp; \u201cI was stunned,\u201d says Harward. \u201cSophie said the little boys were crying because their bellies hurt. We just had no idea there were kids in our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":166154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":[33279],"meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33293],"tags":[33304,33084,33303],"article-theme":[33292],"class_list":["post-166153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consumption","tag-education","tag-food","tag-waste","format-on-the-ground","article-theme-solutions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On the Ground With Atlanta Schools Reducing Food Waste - Modern Farmer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2016, Carla Harward\u2019s daughter, Sophie, came home from her middle school in Chattooga County and told her mother about two students who hadn\u2019t eaten\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the Ground With Atlanta Schools Reducing Food Waste - Modern Farmer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2016, Carla Harward\u2019s daughter, Sophie, came home from her middle school in Chattooga County and told her mother about two students who hadn\u2019t eaten\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Farmer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ModernFarmerMedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-28T12:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-29T13:52:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0969-jpg.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Gleim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ModFarm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ModFarm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Gleim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Gleim\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/#\/schema\/person\/608661e56515f58464bb4425f7c98dcd\"},\"headline\":\"On the Ground With Atlanta Schools Reducing Food Waste\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-28T12:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-29T13:52:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/\"},\"wordCount\":1354,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/2024\/10\/on-the-ground-with-atlanta-schools-reducing-food-waste\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/modernfarmer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/IMG_0969-jpg.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Education\",\"Food &amp; 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