Riding the Green Wave: Local Kids Showcase that Composting is for Everyone

High Point Academy is striving to be a model ‘green’ school. From composting and food scrap recovery to LED lighting and reduced paper use, High Point students are living the culture of environmental stewardship. In partnership with Waste Less Living, High Point Academy students showcased how local governments can comply with the Mandatory Commercial Recycling Law, AB 341 that requires cities to reduce their waste going to landfills by 75%. By recovering organics in the waste stream, composting it and using the finished compost as a turf or landscape treatment, compliance with AB 341 can likely be attained.

At the event, Pasadena Councilmember Gene Masuda and Dan Noble of the Association of Compost Producers spoke about the importance of resource management over waste management and congratulated the student’s efforts.

For the past four years, Waste Less Living, a zero-waste consulting and composting service provider, has been guiding High Point Academy in taking its commitment to environmental stewardship to the next level. Students receive on-going education and training to reduce their waste practices at the school and learn first hand how composting makes a difference to their environment. Students and staff diligently separate, weigh and catalogue their food scraps, their recyclables, and trash on a daily basis. School-wide, they use compostable cups, utensils, and tableware for celebrations which they in turn recover and process into compost.

“I commend High Point Academy for taking such a bold move and investing in their students’ environmental stewardship education and for blazing a new path for the future of waste management,” said Gene Masuda, Pasadena councilmember District 4. “Waste

Less Living and High Point Academy’s partnership is a great model of a successful collaboration between private enterprise and schools for addressing our solid waste problem and for cleaning up the environment. It begins with education and both Waste Less Living and High Point Academy are at the forefront to achieving compliance with AB 341.”

“As a result of establishing a partnership with Waste Less Living, our students are seeing the fruits of their labor and learning,” said High Point Academy principal John Higgins. “We are proud that this program has demonstrated to be a good example of our school’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and educating our students about the environmental benefits of composting.”

For more information on the program, visit www.wastelessliving.com or contact Christine Lenches-Hinkel at (626) 786-5947.