Getting down to grab a misplaced yogurt cup out of the compost bin is not for the faint hearted, but it is essential for the success of the We Future Cycle recycling program.
This program teaches students to sort their lunchroom waste into excess liquids, recyclables, compostables and untouched food. And low and behold, only 2-5% of the initial amount is actually trash.
White Plains George Washington Elementary School Head Custodian Darrel Kidd supports the program 100%. He says, it makes his life much easier because now, he does not have to bring a single bag of garbage out until the very end of lunch, when he cleans up the station. And then he casually slings the 6 lbs bag over his pinky finger. Because 6 lbs of trash is all that comes out of the school of 630 students. Down from 235 lbs, a 98% reduction.
Biggest challenges in each school is crowd control so that the kids are not falling over each other while recycling at the station. Mr Kidd is the master of untangling traffic jams at the station, he supervises that nothing but food and paper goes into the compost bin all the while keeping the kids in the flow.
Ownership of the program within the school is the key to success and the custodial staff of White Plains GW school is owning this program for good! Way to go.
bags. We now use only cloths and reusable glass and plastic food storage containers. We have also bumped up our contributions to our backyard compost pile and paid even more attention to what we can recycle curbside here in White Plains. We are hoping that other families have been inspired as well and that together we can be a part of the solution.
We Future Cycle 