Did you know that students at Birney compost up to 100 gallons of food waste, paper, leaves and other garden weeds and cuttings each school year?
Students produce most of the soil amendment on site and in class using the hot pile composting method which uses thermophilic bacteria. The gauge (shown above) is the way students check to see if the hot pile is still “cooking.” Piles reach upwards of 160 degrees fahrenheit. The pile above is composting waste from our Harvest Festival!
Pictured below are students running the trash relay. This game gets students in the mode of properly sorting their trash. The students pick up trash around campus and then compete in teams to see who can sort the plastic and biodegradable waste into the correct buckets. Sadly, we have a lot of plastic waste in our community. Students help to clean up this plastic and think about ways to help our school get closer to zero waste.
