student spotlight
By Sarah Grace Smith
Compost to Compost An easy way to recycle – without the big blue bins
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Photo courtesy of Freddie and Pia Charlton
hen 14-year-old Pia and 11-year-old Freddie Charlton moved to New Albany from their environmentally minded hometown, they sought out a way to help their new community. “Portland, Oregon, is quite progressive with things like composting and recycling,” says their dad, Mark Charlton. “So, when we got here, we started to actively seek that out.” In 2019, Pia found an opportunity for the family through a friend from school. The friend’s mother, Mona Barber, was starting a new organization called Kids That Compost (KTC). “It was then Pia and Freddie’s mission to create the movement in New Albany,” says Mark. Pia wanted to create the New Albany chapter because of her own passion for the environment. “I really care for the environment,” she says. “It’s a really big topic on my mind. … I was looking out for things that I can do, and composting is a small thing, but if I could set it up in New Albany and get other people to join, that’s a big step.” Freddie became passionate about KTC after he and a group of members toured a landfill. “After seeing the big landfill, I’m like, ‘We all have to change,’” he says. “Everybody is putting into it, … but they’re not taking anything out.” For a service charge of $20 a month, KTC provides users with a bucket and compostable liners to be filled with food scraps. Every Tuesday in New Albany, KTC picks up the compost, replaces the liner and takes the food waste to local farms. The KTC New Albany chapter is also the first to offer composters fertilizer made from their compost. In addition to getting young people Pia and Freddie Charlton www.healthynewalbanymagazine.com
