Clinton County Solid Waste Management District has been busy awarding grants to local communities all across Clinton County in recent weeks. But none of the grantees were as excited as Mrs. Adkins’ fourth-grade gifted students at Blanchester Intermediate School.
In the beginning of the school year, the students observed that their school produced a whopping 30, 50-gallon trash bags of garbage in their cafeteria each week.
When brainstorming ways to reduce their waste volumes and resulting environmental impact, the students first successfully campaigned their school to halt the usage of disposable and unrecyclable Styrofoam lunch trays and instead opt for reusable lunch trays.
This change alone made a big impact, but the district was confident they could do more.
Working with Clinton County Solid Waste Management District, Blanchester Local Schools re-imagined their waste management procedures and implemented a co-mingled recycling program through Rumpke — thus allowing the students to recycle their milk cartons among other frequently used items all while saving the district money.
Building on the positive momentum of these two environmentally and budget-friendly wins, Mrs. Adkins’ fourth-grade students were determined to institute a lasting composting program to reduce the volume of food waste being produced during their lunch period.
The students researched available SWMD grant programs and wrote a compelling narrative with an accompanying budget detailing how they would operate a meaningful composting program if they were awarded grant funds.
The students, using the Solid Waste Management District’s PEAR (Promoting Environmental Awareness & Recycling) grant funds, will create an incredible program that will benefit the environment as well as their own class and classes yet to come.
SWMD is very proud to be able to help make the program a reality by funding their proposed project.
Congratulations, ladies, for a job well done. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work!
