The Green Team club is developing a new recycling and compost program at Palo Alto High School, to reduce the school’s carbon footprint on the environment.
The Green Team hopes to install compost and recycling bins on campus as well as Town and Country Village.
“Town and Country also wants eight bins, although we are unsure whether that many can accommodate the amount of students who travel there for lunch,” junior Green Team co-president junior Emily Benatar said.
The Green Team also suggested stationing monitors on campus to help students having difficulty categorizing their waste into the appropriate bins.
“Offering service hours to volunteers who monitor the waste bins might be an incentive for students to get involved with the new program,” club adviser Elizabeth Brimhall said.
Another suggestion for making the program effective was to introduce signs that might help students identify which parts of their waste is recyclable or compostable.
All plastic, paper, cardboard, aluminum cans, aluminum foil, and glass go into recycling. However paper used with foods, milk cartons, and waxed cardboards go in the compost bins.
“We have considered doing signs and maybe even charts to help students see how serious the problem is,” Benatar said.
The program is part of a larger initiative to reduce waste in Palo Alto.
Greenwaste, a local organization that develops cost-effective solutions to address solid waste related problems will work with the Palo Alto Unified School District to improve environmental friendliness.
“Palo Alto is moving towards zero waste,” Greenwaste representative Zea Luce said.
The Greenwaste Web site states that the city of Palo Alto has committed to be a zero waste community by the target date of 2021.
The program would hopefully be introduced to both Palo Alto junior and senior high schools, and will even expand to elementary schools. The Green Team would head a Paly campaign that would be part of a larger local initiative addressing waste-related problems.
“Finally now it is a district wide program, the city is going with it, its big,” club adviser Danielle Mewes said.
However, the Green Team has to educate students about using the bins before they can be placed on the Paly campus.
“Students have to be educated in using the bins before Greenwaste can give them to Paly,” Luce said.
The plan also has the potential to cut unnecessary school spending by reducing trash.
“Trash costs more than composting to process, and recycling is free,” junior club member Letty Kerman. “This could potentially help the administration by using another was to save money, considering the budget deficit.”