3 minute read
Walnut Acres Recycle Club & Zero Waste
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By Amy Golan, Resident since 2008, Owner of Planet Renu
As an eco-friendly business owner, I am concerned about the impact that society and all of our buying behaviors have on the environment and the earth. Everyone can do their part and working with large entities, such as a school, can be very impactful. I had the pleasure of meeting the ladies that run the Recycle Club at Walnut Acres (WA) Elementary School when they reached out to me to help them create and offer Zero Waste Lunch alternatives for their school. This club is dynamically changing the way the school approaches trash, recycling & composting. I was so impressed, that I thought everyone should know about their positive efforts which can hopefully be duplicated by other schools.
The two ladies that presently run the WA Recycle Club are Marci and Monique. Marci moved from Massachusetts four years ago and immediately took over the Recycle Club from its founder, Christianna Cohen, as she was transitioning out. Monique joined a few years later when her daughter started kindergarten after being inspired by one of her favorite environmentalists. She realized the best way to make a difference is to “think globally, act locally.” They have done a great job creating a school that is as zero waste as possible even recycling all markers through Crayola’s Color Cycle program.
Marci Cole Ekberg and Monique Pickering head up Walnut Acres Recycle Club
In addition to educating the students on recycling and setting up recycling bins around school, Marci and Monique realized that a few other issues needed to be tackled. One issue was that the recycling bins inside the classroom were not making it to the recycling containers, and in fact, this recycling was being thrown in the trash. This ongoing problem in the school district relates to how the custodial contracts are written. To remedy this situation, they have the students transport the recycling in the blue bins to the recycling containers twice a week. To date, there has been some training by the district for the custodians to take care of the in-classroom recycling, but the students are still taking out the recycling.
Another event that produces a lot of trash is parties- whether at home or at school. Think of all of the plastic or paper plates, plastic utensils, cups, tablecloths and water bottles that usually accompany festive gatherings and celebrations. So these ladies decided to reduce waste from parties and other celebrations by creating a reusable “Party Set.” To address the plastic water bottles, they suggested that extra water not be provided for parties since the students bring their own water bottles to school and there are water fountains everywhere. To reduce the waste of plastic utensils, etc, they created the “Party Set” that consists of 30 reusable plates, bowls, cups, utensils (knife, fork & spoon) as well as a tablecloth. Walnut Acres has 3 “Party Sets” that can be borrowed by the classrooms and staff. The process to use these “Party Sets” is simple, including a signup form to reserve them and all sets need to be returned clean. These sets were graciously donated by Recycle Smart. Marci and Monique are excited to see this change at their school as even the teachers are using them for their teacher appreciation lunches.
Walnut Acres also composts! Like many schools in our area, the Walnut Acres Gardeners put garden compost from their lovely school garden into the green bins at school, and the school cafeteria also composts all of the food waste created from school lunches. In the future, the school is working on plans for a working school food garden in which the compost can be used to help fertilize the food they grow.
Their recent initiative is bringing the idea of the Zero Waste lunch to the students and their parents. Many families use reusable lunch bags and containers, but many do not, and the trash bins and recycling bins are full of used paper and plastic bags as well as packaging from chips and other pre-packaged goodies. The idea behind the Zero Waste lunch is to bring lunch to school and leave nothing behind. This is possible by packing lunch in a reusable lunch bag, in snack containers and lunch containers.
Marci and Monique are partnering with Planet Renu to offer many eco-friendly products made from stainless steel, wheat straw (wheat straw containers are reusable, they look like plastic, but are compostable after years of use), compostable straws and Bee’s Wraps. Marci and Monique are also working with the school cafeteria to offer eco options for their cutlery and plates instead of plastic.
It is exciting to see so many eco-friendly changes at Walnut Acres Elementary. I believe that if we adapt the motto “Be a Contributor, not a Consumer,” we can make great strides in reducing the amount of waste (plastic, trash, etc) that we produce. We all know it takes a village, but together we can start taking small steps towards making our world a better place.
