Team Green members had several ideas to make their school more environmentally sustainable. The school recycled paper, but the students thought an awareness campaign would help improve the use of the recycling program. They also wanted to start composting food waste that was going into the dumpster.
With funding from the Falmouth Educational Foundation, as well as their Green School mini-grant from KIDS Consortium, the students decided to implement composting for the school kitchen and cafeteria. They purchased compost tumblers and placed them at the edge of the school property.
Guided by their advisors, students enlisted a master gardener, Katy Gannon-Janelle as their community partner. Katy helped them develop the composting process and taught the students best ways to use the compost in the school garden.
Students examined and measured the weight of the compostable cafeteria waste they collected every week to track their progress. By their estimate, 15% less material is going to the landfill from their school!
Students created presentations for their school board and for KIDS Consortium’s 10th annual Student Summit on Service-Learning. To reduce the carbon footprint of their travel to the Summit, the team traveled by Amtrak train.
Team Green learned about a new strategy from their peers at the Student Summit. Upon their return, they convinced the cafeteria to use compostable disposable forks at an outdoor school picnic instead of plastic.
Read more about their composting project and trip to the Summit.