Bioscience High School has introduced food composting and recycling as part of its ongoing sustainability effort.
Upon receiving a sustainability grant for $1,800 from the Arizona Recycling Coalition this semester, the Green Leapers, a group of students concerned about their school’s sustainability, banded together with school principal Holly Batsell to address sustainability issues and concerns.
Batsell said she wants to focus on diverting material from landfills toward recycling and composting.
She said their school found out that they received their grant of sustainability for zero waste in October. The first step in implementing the grant is to educate the students about composting, she said.
“We hit some snags with some district limits on what we can and cannot do,” Batsell said. “The girls (Bioscience students) are putting together an educational video for the students to watch.”
She said a lot of the implementation process has been teaching the students the criteria for what can be recycled and composted.
“The goal is for January to start with the education; then by the end of January, have the bins,” Batsell said. “We have to make sure the students buy in and are doing it properly.”
Alicia Flores, a senior at Bioscience, said she came together with classmate Griselda Solis two years ago to address the problem of food waste.
“Sophomore year I focused on the food waste,” Solis said. “I noticed that the students at the school were not exposed to composting and that the food waste at Bioscience was shocking.”
She said last year is when she and Flores joined a fellow student, Alejandra Villarreal, to create the Green Leapers – L.E.A.P. standing for Leaders of Environmental Awareness and Protection.
“We are looking to make promotional videos to inform students how to use the printers correctly,” Solis said. “The City of Phoenix will be providing us with resources to start our composting system second semester.”
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Villarreal said the main idea for the recycling and composting effort at Bioscience is to have students implementing what they learn at home.
“Two years ago, Bioscience introduced the state’s first Sustainability Officer into their Student Governing Board,” Flores said. “The group is still in the developing stages with the program and further collaboration is needed.”
She said one of the major steps in educating students is showing how convenient it can be to make sustainable changes in their personal lives.
“The overarching goal that the Green Leapers want to achieve is to convert Bioscience into a zero-waste school,” Flores said. “It will be a long process and entails additional efforts from staff, students and outside sources.”
Contact the reporter at bbradle3@asu.edu.
