Two PB schools go green, cut back on milk cartons with new dispensers

Two Poplar Bluff R-I schools will receive new milk dispensers next month, prompting the shift from milk cartons to cups.

The district was selected for a pilot program partnered with National Dairy Management and Midwest Dairy Council, Hubert and Prairie Farms to install milk dispensers and gather research.

Lake Road Elementary will receive two dispensers and Poplar Bluff Middle School will receive four. This is over $20,000 in new equipment from the partnership. That amount also includes the glasses and dishwasher trays for them.

These campuses, along with one in Rhode Island, will collect data and research to determine the effectiveness of this kind of milk delivery method for schools.

Dixie Harden, food service director with the district, said research topics include changes to the amount of use of the machines, impact on waste and student response to the change. The goal of the pilot program is to “determine a successful business model for milk dispensing with consistent product delivery and waste reduction.”

The proposed benefits include a reduction of waste, less custodial work, colder milk and more student milk consumption. Waste reduction could come from several areas including the cartons themselves, fluid waste of leftover milk and outdated cartons since the dispensers have a longer shelf life.

“There’s a lot of pluses behind it,” Harden said. “I think kids will consume it better. Forty-one degrees is where we’re required to keep those milk boxes at, but when they open those doors and they stay open for the entire service line, that temperature goes up dramatically. Then you have to worry about is the milk getting too hot? Has it gone bad?”

At the middle school last year, 243,000 milk cartons went in the trash. By switching to glasses, that number would decrease dramatically, officials believe.

Harden said the district expressed concerns over the glasses weighing down the Styrofoam trays the students currently use. However, the district had enough reusble trays in storage to supply both participating schools at no cost.

“When (representatives) came, they thought we were only going to do the milk, but that we’re taking on the trays too really excited them because they’ll be able to measure that information as well,” Harden said.

Hubert, the company that provided the equipment, is producing informational videos for parents, teachers, students and staff.

Harden said Prairie Farms is redesigning one of its manufacturing lines to produce the milk for the program.

According to rules from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, schools are only able to provide 1% or skim milk.

“That’s what the catch has always been,” Harden said. “A lot of places manufacture the 1% chocolate, but nobody manufactured the 1% white (milk) in the bags.”

Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said one of the earlier conversations he had with Harden when he started as superintendent involved why the district used the Styrofoam trays and the environmental impact of it.

“The environmental impact is huge and just the cost. We’re emptying dumpsters every single day at every single site,” he said. “We’ll see how that is impacted.”

He pointed out there will be more work washing dishes. Harden said she has experience with that kind of work and has taken it into account.

“At the middle school alone, we spend about $132 a day on Styrofoam trays,” Harden said. “I can have somebody in house doing a recyclable dish. The chemical cost and the water cost will be lower than what we’re putting out now.”

Dill said there will be “the inevitable spills” and the custodians currently spend “a tremendous amount time” moving trash bags of trays and cartons.

“I think they will have a little bit of time to mop up a little milk without any spilled tears,” he said.

“This is something I’ve been wanting ... I’m hoping that eventually we can make the whole district this way,” Harden said. “I think it would be a plus for our kids and the environment.”

The launch date for the program is Feb. 10, which Harden called the Go Light date, where the machines, glasses and trays will be in place.