IAA's was funded through a district wide initiative and a contract with Rauthier waste disposal and Chittenden solid waste. This contract provides the school with five large compost totes, which are collected twice weekly and hauled to the Interval. Similarly, this contract provides biobags, buckets, and bins for the storage and movement of waste.Ryan stepped in last spring to help the IAA realize the benefits of the existing contract. He set-up a small composting group, arranged for school training and planned the system, which included parent volunteers.
This system operates in a permanent cafeteria and uses a parent designed and constructed table to help the students sort waste into five categories: liquid waste (which is composted at Intervale), recyclable waste (this school gets milk in plastic containers), bottle tops (these are sent to a company like Terra Cycle that converts the tops to bottles), trash waste and compost. (illustrated to the left)
Behind each station is a student with tongs and an apron. These students assist in the act of sorting waste and use to tongs to correct any mistakes.This is possible, in part, because the students have
a half hour for lunch, which allows them plenty of time to eat and to then help. Additionally, children who helped out receive a temporary tattoo as a reward.
(sign up sheet is listed to the left)
This image illustrates the content of the liquid waste bucket. It contains mostly chocolate milk and a frozen dessert that came in a recyclable container. The students were expected to peel the foil off of these containers before recycling the container and before throwing the foil away.
This illustrates the recycling bin during this lunch, which is quite full. Students receive their milk in these plastic containers.
This illustrates the bottle tops. These are saved and mailed in prepared packages to the company that recycles them.
I was surprised that the cafeteria uses plastic forks and knives, which appeared to be the bulk of the trash.
Likewise, biodegradable trays appeared to be the bulk of the compost.
Before we left, Ryan engaged us in a skit and a game. He explained that students from BHS had performed a recycling play when composting started in November. He mentioned several memorable characters from the play, such as the Wicked Witch of the Waste!
The skit that was performed by the students began with the students role playing a typical lunch. One of the students was the teacher and others students played naughty students. The students then started to dispose of their waste when a trash monster appeared and dumped all of the waste on the floor. The heros challenged one another to pick up the waste properly and the winner would be finished first. The students then broke into two relay teams where each leg was allowed to pick up two pieces of waste and to properly sort it.
Overall, the quality of student involvement was superb. Likewise, the integration of drama was integral to the student understanding of the sorting process. I believe this would be an essential component of any training we would do with the students. The use of plastic bottles for milk should be explored because our current waste is largely milk cartons, which are not recyclable nor are then compostable.
Our next step is to develop a plan to present to Laurie Decesere, who will be visiting this coming Friday. She is the regional trainer for the Vermont Compost Association. I hope that she will be able to troubleshoot our plan when she visits and help us anticipate problems we did not recognize.
We plan to have a proposal to present to Mrs. Lemieux, Chef Bob and Cecile and Mr. Berard on the Wednesday after April recess.
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