The Norfolk Academy Composting Program has been brewing since early 2012, and our efforts are finally culminating as we are in the midst of finally accomplishing our goal. We started out by introducing composting practices during the earliest Lower School lunch, and all of the children were extremely cooperative and picked up the simple process very quickly. Amazingly they accumulated 1300 pounds of food waste in only one week. That is 1300 pounds of food staying out of landfills and away from our bay, from only one school lunch out of four! Now we have integrated composting into two school lunches, doubling the amount of compost generated, and our last two lunches will be practicing composting ASAP. However, it’s not all about the number of pounds we generate (in truth, we prefer for everyone to clean their plate and produce no waste at all), but also about educating the student body about the composting process and the importance of thinking about the greater community over oneself. This project also would have never been successful without endless support from our school’s teachers, who have always been ready to jump in and help (or kick us in the butt when we fall off the job). The final project goal is halfway accomplished, and the end is finally around the corner.
Ellie Randolph ’15