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A New Jersey State of Food Waste and School Recycling
Priscilla E. HayesMaterials Management Consultant
Waste Audit Consultant
Peninsula Compost is Served by Multiple Haulers
There are also plans to build at least two anaerobic digesters in NJ
Onsite Composter Project with the Rocket
• The Rocket Composter is an on‐site aerobic system that will allow Weequahic to recycle school generated food waste into useful compost for landscaping, horticultural needs and for science projects. This automated composting system will eliminate food waste disposal costs the school now pays and it will reduce local truck traffic as well as minimize greenhouse pollution. Students at Weequahic now have a fantastic hands‐on learning tool that can help them better understand biology and earth sciences.
Four stations for trash/food waste/trays/unopened items were set up in the cafeteria, as follows:
• Station OneOne or two milk crates for collection of unopened milks and other totally unopened food items. Placement here is limited to items which are hard to open, such as cereal, not easily opened items such as burgers and sandwiches.
• Station TwoOne or two gray round trash bins, with signage for students to remove all non food items (including burger/sandwich wrappers) into the bin. After using this station, the only thing left on the tray should be food items.
• Station ThreeOne or two five gallon handled buckets, with signage for students to dump all food items into the bin.
• Station FourA table for stacking Styrofoam trays, to reduce the space that the trays take up in the trash, and allow the school to call for trash pick ups less frequently.
• The stations are augmented with a round blue recycling bin, for the few bottles and cans generated in the cafeteria.
STUDENTS GET INTO FOOD WASTE RECYCLING
ORANGE PEELS CAN BE RECYCLED
CLEAN PLATE CLUB
STUDENT MONITORS
The Truth about School Recycling
Weequahic, and many (perhaps most) of NJ’s Schools are not recycling, or are only recycling corrugated cardboard.
There Ought to Be A Law . . .Oh, duh, there is a law—the New Jersey Recycling Act. Since 1987, schools have been required to recycle those items identified as mandatory in the county plan. Every county plan identifies paper, bottles and cans, and cardboard, at a minimum.
A Solitary Trash Bin Always Collects Recyclables
CLUSTERING OF BINS IS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESSFUL RECYCLING PROGRAMS
Changing the Culture of an Entire School
• The third year of the recycling club was the first year Ms. McGrath did not had to take over collecting recycling from any hall
• There are sometimes so many student volunteers as to be chaotic
• The mix of students is particularly unusual—the gifted and talented nerds, kids who would otherwise be in detention, special ed kids
• Everyone wants to be there—and they can choose to come or not, when their workload is too much
Changing the Culture Part 2
• A science teacher and the principal told Ms. McGrath it would never work
• Everyone had seen the custodian mixing recyclables back in with the trash
• Now everyone thanks the students who pick up the recyclables—the custodians are grateful for the help, and teachers apologize when they forget to put the bins outside the classroom door
What have you learned?Student Responses
“What kind of things can be recycled or not, teamwork, and friendship.”“It helps on your college applications.”
Hamilton County provides “honey”
http://hamiltoncountyrecycles.org/index.php?page=recycling‐at‐school
Reducing Costs and Promoting Education
• For schools and higher education institutions, food waste recycling—and indeed, recycling in general—present special teaching opportunities, as well as cost saving opportunities.
• Recycling underscores what the students learn in science, that matter is not created nor destroyed, and that on a finite planet we need to practice resource management to avoid having our resources ending up in the messy stew of landfills.
• Recycling programs offer the opportunity for real life data collection, scientific demonstration, and real life mathematics, word problems and calculations.
• Failure to recycle, or doing it in a very half hearted way sendsthe message that resources don’t really require conservation, and maybe, that science is wrong.
Lessons Learned• Hands‐on involvement opens eyes—of both students and
teachers/staff• No one is too good not to be responsible for getting their trash and
recycling right• The custodian and the kitchen staff are your best friends—and
everyone needs to be respectful of them; listen to them when they tell you about the ants
• Get support as high up as you can—this includes at least the principal
• Change the infrastructure to make it unthinkable not to recycle– Make recycling bins sacred and clustering sacred– Really look into the black box—and the green bin– Reduce trash pulls to get economic benefits– Make easy changes to reduce the space waste takes up or to make
less waste
Contact InformationPriscilla Ellen HayesMaterials Management and Educational Consultant3 Trellis WayRobbinsville, NJ 08691‐[email protected]‐259‐7184 (home office)609‐651‐1544 (mobile)
"Our wealth is imaginary. It comes from soil." Janine Benyus, Founder, Biomimicry Institute, in Dirt, the Movie.