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A rind is a terrible thing to waste

High school composting program diverts organics

An estimated 150 pounds of organic material per week is no longer being sent to landfills from the teaching kitchen at Brooks Secondary School. Earlier this year, with mentorship from Powell River Regional District’s Let’s Talk Trash team, the Brooks Students for Environmental Action Club (SEA) took on the task of organizing an alternative.

“In the past we have produced such high volumes of food scraps that it was overwhelming the compost bins at the school, and we could not get a reliable system for pickup,” said Mike Austin, cooks’ training instructor. “We are now hoping that the program will result in a sustainable system for our compostable waste.”

From now until the end of June, organic waste will be sorted, weighed and picked up by local farmers, Carol Engram and Carlos Williams. “The key objectives of the pilot are to engage students in the process of composting, to divert organic waste from landfills, and to gather data that will assist school administration with evaluating possible long-term, on-site composting solutions,” said SEA teacher-sponsor Willow Dunlop.

Funding for the pilot comes from a partnership between Brooks administration, Vancouver Island University, and School District 47’s Sustainable Schools Committee.

The collaborators behind this initiative hope that this will be just one part of a larger educational campaign at the school to normalize composting in the same way that blue bins have become a regular fixture for paper recycling. Decomposing organic materials in a landfill create toxic methane gases, estimated to be 20 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Compostable organics are a valuable resource that can add necessary nutrients back to local soil. Nationwide audits estimate that approximately 40 to 50 per cent of the solid waste stream is compostable and can be diverted, which could result in significant waste disposal cost savings.

Many municipalities throughout the province have already enacted bans on disposal of organics going to landfill and the regional district and City of Powell River are currently exploring centralized composting for the region.