Latest News

School in Amherst gets started with composting

There are plans this year at Crocker Farm Elementary School to expand their existing composting efforts to include the whole school, not just the kindergarden class that started the initiative. High School students from the same region have built the school a large compost bin, and next year the Elementary School students will be using this bin to compost all their organic waste, as well as using the compost to assist the growth of vegetables that will then be used for school lunches.

Two other schools are currently separating their organic food waste for composting, but are not currently using on-site composting bins.
Teachers aide Ricci Mastroianni started the composting venture with her class last year, assigning different tasks to different pupils when she found that almost the entire school wanted to help out. Making the venture into a school-wide initiative meant everyone could participate, and that pupils leaving the school will take composting as a ‘given’, she said.

Guilford Mooring, who is responsible for transporting the schools regular waste to landfill sites, sees composting as the way forward. “As prices go up, people are going to start going to the practices of our grandparents,” Mooring said. “My grandparents never threw anything out,” he added. “The trash can was half-empty most of the time.”