The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines idiocy as 鈥渆xtreme stupidity; something that is extremely stupid or foolish.鈥�
That鈥檚 the best thing that can be said about the Los Angeles Unified School District鈥檚 decision in 2011 to ban chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk. It might be worse than idiocy, but let鈥檚 go with that.
LAUSD has more than 640,000 students enrolled, a population that would make it the 26th largest city in America. When the district discards its trash every week, it鈥檚 an event.
Republic Services, the company that has had the LAUSD rubbish-hauling contract for nearly five years, estimated last year that the district throws out 600 tons of organic waste, including liquids, every week. Most of that is uneaten food. The liquid is unconsumed milk. White milk.
LAUSD serves milk to students from kindergarten through 12th grade every day for breakfast and lunch. The 鈥渕ilk options鈥� on the menu are 鈥淲hite Low Fat 1%,鈥� 鈥淲hite Fat Free鈥� and 鈥淲hite Non-fat Lactose Free.鈥�
But this segregated milk policy is a failure with the students and a hazard for the environment. It鈥檚 not easy to throw away two servings of milk per day for the population of the 26th largest city in America.
At a recent meeting of the LAUSD school board鈥檚 Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee, board member and committee chair Monica Ratliff asked Robert Laughton, director of the district鈥檚 Office of Environmental Health and Safety, about a photo in his report that showed students pouring milk into a trash can.
鈥淒o we throw it down the drain?鈥� she asked. 鈥淲here does it go?鈥�
鈥淥riginally, they poured it down the drain,鈥� Laughton said, 鈥渂ut the city didn鈥檛 like milk going down the sewer system. You can鈥檛 put it down the storm drain, that鈥檚 against the law. The city isn鈥檛 crazy about it going to Hyperion (the wastewater treatment plant) either so now they鈥檙e pouring it into black trash bags and putting it into the trash bin. So it鈥檚 pretty much going across the counter and into a trash can.鈥�
From there, the milk in the trash bags is hauled to local landfills. That probably includes the notorious Sunshine Canyon, a city- and county-owned facility operated by Republic Services, which takes in about a third of L.A. County鈥檚 garbage. It has become Granada Hills鈥� most obnoxious neighbor due to worsening odors.
If milk is causing problems at Sunshine Canyon, the situation may improve next year. That鈥檚 when LAUSD plans to start hauling its organic waste to another county in order to comply with new state regulations for mandatory organic waste recycling. The issue was before the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee because it鈥檚 going to cost a lot of money to haul 600 tons per week of organic waste to a composting facility as far away as southern Kern County.
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