School district lifts flavored milk ban

The Los Angeles Unified School District has lifted its ban on flavored milk in an effort to reduce food waste, the Los Angeles Times reports.

After implementing the ban in 2011, the district noticed that many students would simply throw away their unused milk containers, causing them to end up in landfills. In order to combat the problem, the district’s board is launching a four-part study in 21 schools that will examine different ways to encourage kids to drink more plain milk.

One of the theories proposed is that students will be more likely to drink plain milk if they also have the option of flavored milk. The idea is based off of a 2014 study out of Cornell University focused on Oregon elementary schools, which found that when the schools banned flavored milk, students also rejected plain milk in higher numbers.

Read the full story via latimes.com.