The rewards program could also have an additional cost to schools in terms of the
additional items of fruits and vegetables that they would serve. There was a minor increase in the
number of items being served by the schools (about .122 servings per child) but the number of
discarded items per student decreased by 0.184 (a 43% decrease). As a result, the rewards led to
a dramatic increase in the cost-effectiveness of the money the school was already spending on
fruits and vegetables since fewer of these items were ending up in the trash.