As most everyone knows, ‘Care for Creation’ is ingrained in the Franciscan charism and the mission of The Franciscan School (TFS), our parish K-8 school. That’s why the school was open to a new program when members of St. Francis of Assisi’s Care for Creation (C4C) ministry contacted TFS principal Dawn Smith and JaVon Hansknecht, the Director of Justice and Peace at St. Francis Parish and Casey Slock, the Coordinator of Justice and Peace, to pilot a lunch waste composting program during May 2024. It was an idea that aligned with what we were teaching our students at TFS. According to Pat and Paul Kelly, members of C4C, “Pre-planning involved convincing the group that lunchtime composting was feasible. Thanks to the persistence of C4C member Rebeca Cole Maselli, TFS agreed to a trial run. Casey and JaVon agreed to monitor composting procedures for the month.” Dawn Smith said, “We started at the end of last year with the 5th and 7th grade lunch. It was intentionally simple and only for one day a week with JaVon and Casey.” No one wanted to be overwhelmed during the test run, and, as a result, the pilot was successful.
The TFS faculty and staff changed the pilot program to a full program for the new 2024-25 school year. Pat and Paul remember, “At an August meeting for the new year, the planning team agreed that grades 2 through 8 would compost their lunch waste. TFS staff ironed out details for the new program, with parent volunteers monitoring student disposal of compostable items and ‘Scrappy Bins’ placement for weekly pick-up by ‘Compost Now.’ In addition, the school is working with lunch providers to increase their use of compostable materials.” Dawn and the TFS staff added a volunteer slot in the lunch schedule so parent volunteers could help. “Alex Rommel, who works with our parent lunch volunteers, added a composting slot to have parents help monitor the composting and guide the students. The kids have adapted easily,” said Dawn. ‘Compost Now’ takes the food away and composts it at their community facility. When the food is processed and completely broken down, it goes out to the community as fertilizer.”
Dawn was very conscientious and involved in ensuring that the school’s needs and the reality of what could be reasonably accomplished in the cafeteria environment were balanced. “We didn’t want to add too much to the staff and faculty’s plates. They already do so much, and to be successful,” said Dawn, “we needed to make sure the program goals and what ‘Compost Now’ needed were achievable.” Casey added, “This program could be a model for other schools; with something like this, slow and steady wins the race. There will be small challenges and solutions needed.” “For example,” she said, “one day during the first week, the bag lining ripped and created a mess for the parent volunteer. There was a discussion about changing how we handled the process, including changing the bag earlier, wheeling the cans next to each other during the change, double bagging, etc.” “More recently,” Casey explained, “one of the hot lunch vendors changed, and we need to work with them to identify the compostable elements of the new lunch provider’s products. It is always a work in progress.”
While there have been ‘hiccups’ during the process, as with any new program, especially those involving students from 7 to 14 years old, the school feels the program is a success! ‘Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle’ is the mantra of the effort to limit waste generation. However, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes, “The most effective way to reduce waste is not to create it in the first place. Making a new product emits greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change and requires a lot of materials and energy – raw materials are extracted from the earth, and the product is fabricated and transported to wherever it is to be used or sold. As a result, reduction and reuse are the most effective ways to save natural resources, protect the environment, and save money.” By removing food waste from landfills (reduction) and transforming it into locally available and unpackaged fertilizer (reuse), the effort at TFS contributes in a small way to saving our planet’s resources. It is also a good lesson for our students on how their actions can impact the world.
