Composting Community

"COMPOST...a RIND is a terrible thing to waste!" Go Green Forsyth, our sustainability committee, and Grade 6 students are leading a campus-wide effort to reduce waste and make major changes to the way we eat lunch and have snacks on campus. The waste reduction and compost production process started after Spring Break.

Waste Audit
Grade 6 students conducted a waste audit in the fall of 2017. According to their data, Forsyth School generates approximately 70 pounds of food waste per day. After analyzing the results, Grade 6 students decided they want to lead our community in reducing the amount of food waste going to the landfill from Forsyth School.

By composting for 170 days in a school year, Forsyth School will divert approximately 11,900 pounds (about 6 tons) of food waste from the landfill. The food scraps from our school will also eventually be amending the soil on our campus by providing nutrients that promote healthy plant growth.

Logistics
Forsyth is working with Total Organics Recycling. They provide the yellow bins which are lined with 100% compostable bags to collect all food scraps. The yellow bins are picked up twice a week and taken to a commercial composting facility. Outdoor Creative Design, our landscaping company, is using compost from the same facility on our flower beds on campus. In addition, all of the yard waste at Forsyth also goes to Total Organic Recycling to be made into compost. 

Student-Driven
Students and their teachers have been in the lunchrooms helping their peers sort their trash. Student Council members took time in Morning Meetings across campus to show examples of how to pack a waste-free lunch. Grade 6 students also created Public Service Announcements to educate families on how to pack a waste-free lunch, the benefits of composting and more.

Waste reduction and composting is for students of all ages. Junior-Kindergarteners and their teachers combined recycling with art by making a special gift for the New House lunchroom. They took the tin foil used to keep their lunches warm to create a frame for the mirror, a wall hanging and more. A pretty reminder that we can all make a difference.

Fruits of their Labor
After only the first week, Go Green Forsyth is already seeing an increase in recycled materials as students are more thoughtfully sorting their waste. With the help of Total Organics Recycling, Grade 6 students will be analyzing our composting data to create a year-end report to share with our community. As they watch their friends throw banana peels and apple cores into the yellow bin, they are seeing the fruits of their labor!