Ocean Guardian School Grant - Findings from Waste Audit #1

As part of the NOAA Grant we received, we are charged with conducting three waste audits of our school trash and recyclables.  We reached out to Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority, specifically Estela Gutierrez, for help.  Estela is a parent at Lincoln and happens to know a lot about trash and recycling,  thank goodness!  Estela partnered with Maestra Leyva's 4th graders and conducted Lincoln's first waste audit on October 28th. 

Here are some of their findings

Date: October 28, 2014
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Place: Lincoln School by the garbage area
Purpose: To find out how much recyclable material is still going into the trash and to better understand Lincoln School’s garbage and recycling waste streams. The school has one, 8-cubic yard garbage dumpster that is emptied 3 times per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday which equals 24 cubic yards of garbage capacity per week. During the assessment the 8 cubic yard was 40% full. We assessed 20% of the trash which is equivalent to approximately 2 cubic yard of trash.
Ms. Leyva’s 4th grade class along with the Salinas Valley Recycles staff sorted and weighted the recycling and garbage. The objective of this audit was mainly to identify materials that were being generated on a daily basis and identify opportunities for reducing waste and improving the existing recycling program. The lessons learned during this will be passed on to school to improve the diversion program at the school. 

Waste Assessment Findings:
Food scraps, mixed paper and milk waste were the top 3 recyclable or recoverable materials found in the assessment and represent over 50% of the sorted waste stream.

Recommendations:

Food Scraps can be diverted. Most of the apples found were uneaten. Consider promoting “take what you want –eat what you take” message. Encourage students, staff and faculty to not take food if they are not going to eat it. If students bring a meal from home, encourage them to pack a waste-free-lunch. Cutting fruit like apples, bananas, and oranges into smaller pieces can also significantly reduce the amount of food waste.
Ms. Leyva class has a worm compost system and some of the food can be separated for the worms but since there is a lot of food wasted a commercial collection program is recommended. Weekly food scrap collection service is provided by Republic Services. Food scraps collection fees are lower-priced than trash collection.
Mixed paper can be recycled in the recycling bin. It looks like some of the recyclables from the classrooms are being emptied in the trash dumpster. There were bags full of paper in the trash. Recycling training for the custodian crew, staff, students and faculty can be provided by Salinas Valley Recycles.
Leftover Milk Waste can be diverted in a bucket or container and disposed of in the sewer system. Removing milk from the garbage dumpsters will also reduce dumpster corrosion, and potentially decrease insect problems in the garbage dumpster area. Encourage your students to drink all their milk or ask that they not take it if they are not going to drink it.
Yard waste can be diverted into a yard waste cart. Yard waste collection can be arranged with Republic Services.
Milk Cartons (empty) can be recycled in the recycling bin. In the cafeteria, the school can set up a bucket or plastic container for the students to empty leftover milk and place a recycling container lined with a clear plastic bag to recycle all the empty milk cartons. Encourage your students to drink all their milk or ask that they not take it if they are not going to drink it. A recycling
container to recycle the milk cartons can be provided by Salinas Valley Recycles. 5

Rigid Plastics (clean and empty) can be recycled in the recycling bin. Most of the plastic was cereal bowls.
Wrappers/Packaging (clean and dry) can be recycled in the bag-in-bag program and recycled in the recycling bin.
Juice pouches (empty) can be recycled in the recycling bin or the school can participate in the Terracycle program www.terracycle.net.
Zip Lock Bags (clean and dry) can be recycled in the bag-in-bag program and place in the recycling bin. Reducing waste is more important, the school can encourage students and staff to bring their snacks or food in reusable containers.
Plastic Bags (clean and dry) can be recycled in the bag-in a bag program and place into recycling bin. Reducing waste is more important, the school can encourage students and staff to use reusable bags for groceries and produce or buy stuff that doesn’t come in a plastic bag.
CRV- Water Bottles and Aluminum Cans can be recycled in the recycling bin. There were 8 plastic water bottles and 2 aluminum cans found in the trash representing approximately 1% of the waste stream.
Unopened Items were found in the trash like cereal bowls, quesadillas wrapped in plastic bag, snacks, and milk cartons.
Conclusion:
Salinas Valley Recycles can continue to provide training to custodians, staff, faculty and students to help the school divert the waste that still going in the trash. We can assist to train an environmental group or green team that will help divert waste daily during lunch time. The team can support the Lincoln recycling program by assisting classroom that need help with recycling and to continue providing education on what items are recyclables and how the recycling program works.