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 Organic
waste from food scraps, as well as lawn and yard trimmings, accounts for at
least one third of school garbage. Schools can save significantly on their
waste hauling budgets by recycling and composting organic waste.
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When food waste is diverted to compost, it becomes a resource that can be
used to replenish nutrients in soils to grow more food. Schools can compost
food waste on a small scale using worm bins. See the Composting section
of this Resource Guide.
City of San Francisco Environmental Services
Food to Flowers!
11 Grove Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 355-3700
(415) 355-3742
www.sfenvironment.org
San Francisco is one of the first cities in the nation to implement
an Organics Collection Program at K-12 schools. This groundbreaking program
called Food
to Flowers! involves collecting leftover food and soiled paper from school
lunches. SF Environment supplies schools with green carts for collecting
leftover food and soiled paper in the lunchroom, which are picked up by
the school’s waste hauler with its garbage Instead of taking it to
a landfill, the food waste and all other organic materials are turned into
compost at
an off-site facility and used as a rich fertilizer by Bay Area farms, wineries,
school garden programs, and landscape companies.
The program features school
assemblies which include a dynamic slide show, a special visit by Phoebe
the Phoenix (the program’s 7 ft. tall
mascot) and a demonstration on how to recycle and compost using the
green and blue cart system. The program also provides FREE standards-based
teaching
materials and colorful school displays.
The Waste-Free Schools Program
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
(831) 459-2001 phone
(831) 459-3483 fax
www.lifelab.org
This program is a collaboration
of Life Lab, Ecology Action, the Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and
the County of Santa Cruz. The project teaches
students to reduce waste by recycling paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and
aluminum as well as composting food waste in their schools. Life Lab works
with teachers to integrate curricular activities related to the science and
ecology of waste management. The Waste-Free Schools Program has helped local
schools divert thousands of tons of waste from local landfills.
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 Recycling
 Composting
 Environmental
Education
 Environmental
Impact
 Buying
Green
 Funding
for Green Schools
 Energy
Efficiency
 Green
Business Certification
 Gardens
at Schools
 Green
Building
 Lunch
Food Waste
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