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'Upcycling,' Composting Take Hold at Readfield Elementary School

November 22, 2010 - READFIELD -- It’s the end of lunch at Readfield Elementary School.

As students line up to dispose of what’s left on their trays, they drop fruit and vegetable scraps into one container, juice boxes and pouches into another, plastic bags into a third receptacle and milk cartons into a fourth.

There’s a conventional trash bin for the remaining waste.

When all is said and done, “We don’t have much trash,” 9-year-old Ben Douin said Wednesday as he waited in line for an early Thanksgiving turkey dinner.'

The multiple bins are part of two different waste-reducing initiatives that started at the school this fall. One of those projects even stands to make some money for the school.

Each day after lunch, a group of enthusiastic fifth-graders collect the fruit and vegetable scraps from containers located throughout the school, wheel them outside and deposit them into a compost tumbler.

“The whole process is just kind of fun,” said 11-year-old Chris Erb.

On some days, especially when it’s hot and sunny, “It smells really bad,” Nate Clark said.

The compost collection has already started to pay off.

The school garden — managed by a school staff member with help from students — produced a pumpkin this fall that weighed in at 111 pounds. The pumpkin benefited from the compost generated when Readfield Elementary School started venturing into the growth process.

The garden has also produced squash, beans and a few other vegetables that have made their way on to the lunch menu.

“I’ve always wanted to make the garden bigger,” said Jackson McPhedran, 10.

This year, the composting has expanded to a daily lunchtime routine managed by fifth-graders who have begun training younger students to take their places next year when they start attending Maranacook Community Middle School.

“We’re gone, and then they can do it,” Chris said.

A few times per month, a separate set of students get together to count the plastic bags and juice containers that students drop off at the end of lunch. The school sends the waste materials to TerraCycle, a New Jersey company that fashions a range of products — including toys, backpacks and pet products — from the waste it receives as part of the company’s Upcycling program.

“It saves the trash from going to the landfill,” said 10-year-old Vincent Scott.

When students have collected 500 juice pouches, cleaned them and packed them, the school mails them to TerraCycle. The schools gets 2 cents apiece in return, and TerraCycle pays the postage.

“We’re doing our best to keep the cycle going,” said MacKenzie Labonte, 11.

Principal Cheryl Hasenfus said the school started its Upcycling participation after nearby Wayne Elementary School began taking part in the program.

Hasenfus said students are generally eager to find out how much they’ve collected and how much money is headed the school’s way.

“We just keep the kids updated,” she said.

So far, Readfield Elementary School has amassed 1,337 juice pouches and 357 Ziploc bags, generating more than $35 that will be used for school supplies.

Friday November 19th, 2010

by Matthew Stone, staff writer
Kennebec Journal news story


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