Nutrition Policy Institute researcher, Celeste Felix, will present evaluation findings showing reductions in solid waste when a large, urban California school district transitioned from reheated pre-packaged school meals served with single-use disposables to freshly prepared meals served with reusable trays and cutlery. Felix will be joined by project collaborators Stephanie Willits from Fremont Unified School District and Benjamin Schleifer from the Center for Environmental Health. Their talk, “Reusables in the Cafeteria: A School District's Journey to Zero Waste,” will take place on November 13, 2024 from 10-11am at the Pasadena Conference Center as part of the Green California Schools & Higher Education Summit. The evaluation results are from a multi-year project funded by the US Department of Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The project aims to understand the impact of transitioning to freshly-prepared school meals on meal appeal, student participation, food and packaging waste, and school finances.