April 15—Eighth-graders at the Heath School in Brookline, Mass., have planned, organized and implemented a whole-school cafeteria-composting program that began this week. This was one outgrowth of a project where the students learned about the ecological footprint of various consumer products, including food. Through a partnership with Bootstrap Compost, the Heath School is on its way to reducing its cafeteria waste by as much as 50 percent.
As a result of their research in this project, eighth-grade students learned about how composting can help reduce greenhouse gases, shrink the amount of solid waste that goes into landfills, and prevent many problems associated with the use of chemical fertilizers.