West Seattle High School recycling update, with words of thanks

Last week, we published West Seattle High School teacher Jennifer Hall‘s request for 5-gallon buckets to help with their food-recycling launch. She says they received plenty of buckets, and the program is launched! We stopped by for a photo at second lunch period today – note Jennifer’s big smile; later, she sent us the day’s toplines: :

Thanks very much … to generous West Seattle Blog readers! Crossfit Gym donated 10 beautiful black 5 gallon buckets. Junction True Value Hardware donated 10 white buckets, which say, fortuitously, “Start right. Start here!” — so applicable! A West Seattle High School parent who read about the effort on the blog also donated buckets. We made some excellent contacts from the blog post. A Master Composter from Seattle Tilth, and a representative of the “Urban Land Army” contacted us to volunteer.

Cedar Grove and the Seattle School District Sustainablity office are providing us with a new compost dumpster, compost cans and bags. Earth Service Corps students are committed to working hard to get the program going. Today alone, 98 gallons of compostable food and paper waste were diverted from the Arlington, Oregon landfill that receives Seattle trash! Earth Service Corps students and other interested students worked together in the West Seattle Commons to educate their peers and their teachers. More than 100 students composted (I was so busy with compost, it was difficult to count!) It was gratifying to see that at the end of two lunch periods, less than one third of a large trash can was filled with waste. At least two cans would have been collected, had we not composted today. We are excited about ‘Greening’ our school!

(The buckets also help with liquid collection to facilitate recycling of not-entirely-empty containers.)

5 Replies to "West Seattle High School recycling update, with words of thanks"

  • me on 28th Ave SW April 5, 2011 (8:16 pm)

    This is so fantastic! New habits take root quickly; I cannot imagine not recycling or wearing my seatbelt nowadays, two things I didn’t start until adulthood. What an awesome school project.

  • Sandra Melo April 5, 2011 (8:24 pm)

    Alright Jennifer!!
    What great news. I’m happy to see that so many people were participating in this new recycling/composting program.
    .
    Here’s the other thing that really grabbed my attention:
    “Today alone, 98 gallons of compostable food and paper waste were diverted from the Arlington, Oregon landfill that receives Seattle trash!”

  • Paula Tortorice April 5, 2011 (8:33 pm)

    Congratulations Jennifer! WSHS is off to a great start thanks to your efforts. Thank you for teaching my students during 1st lunch the proper composting etiquette! Looking forward to tomorrow and many more gallons of compostables around the school not going to landfills.

  • Yardvark April 6, 2011 (8:44 am)

    Thank you, Jennifer!
    Thanks also to all the local groups/companies that helped get this vital program going.
    Good work!

  • Jennifer April 9, 2011 (4:28 pm)

    Thanks again, WSB readers! An Update: We’re composting during breakfast and our two lunches. We’re also composting sawdust from our Wood Shop program! Cedar Grove brought a one cubic yard container to replace a 98 gallon dumpster, but we filled that the first day, so once again, Cedar Grove came out and replaced the cubic yard dumpster with one twice that size! We’re going to substantially reduce our trash output! Our West Seattle High School students are sorting their trash, recycling, and compost like pros now! They are the best!

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