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Darwyn Sly
On March 29th and 30th during every lunch period, Eco Club will start collecting data for a project that analyzes the waste production of our high school's lunches through analysis of the collections and surveying students. According to Eco Club’s president, Jasmine O’Connor after they finish these food collection dates, “we will be able to get qualitative data that we will then be able to use to identify the specific areas that need to be addressed whether it's the way that students are educated, the food items that they are given, or the lack of options for food disposal.” Following the collection and analysis of these data, eco club will create a plan and present it to Unit 4’s Food Services Director, Laura Dees. This is all in hopes that they can see the implication of the plan in our schools.
This isn’t the first time that Eco Club has researched our waste production. Back in the 2019 and 2020 school year, the Eco Club started the collection and analysis part of the project but unfortunately COVID-19 got in the way of making a change. However their research did show that items like milk cartons, yogurt containers, fruits, and veggies that were not eaten by students and were going straight to the landfill when they could've been recycled, donated, or composted. O’Connor says “we found over 100 fruits and veggies that were in a condition tangible for consumption but were thrown away."
The importance of this project might be a question in your mind, or why would people voluntarily dig through what others regard as trash. O’Connor says “as officers as well as a club, we feel that this project is important because if there are changes that could be made within the school to make it more Eco friendly and if there are ways that we can educate students about things that they can do to make our world a better place then we shouldn't squander that opportunity.” After their first efforts to make a change in our schools being cut short, they want to see the changes they saw possible finally make their way into practice.
This project is going to show us what impact we have on our environment and how we can make a change. Making a change to the environmental impacts we have in our society starts at our schools and homes. Choosing to recycle or compost something instead of adding it to landfill creates a difference.
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