The critical nature of composting

Editor's note: Leah Gill is a junior at Edison High School. She pursued a project to raise awareness about a preservation initiative in hopes of improving her community. MILAN TWP. — Climate change is very important to me, and I wanted to pursue a project that focused on reducing the food waste in my school's cafeteria. Although I was not able to implement it for the students, I started small by recently introducing this initiative with the help of Edison High School's cafeteria staff. Essentially, I began by researching what organizations we had in the community for composting and food waste and was surprised to find that we had very little to none. So I contacted my school's food director, Shelly Geason, and partnered with her to come up with a way to compost fresh food scraps and rinds from the prepared meals in the cafeteria. Now, after collecting the food scraps, they are placed into a composting tumbler and later repurposed. The composting project reduces food waste during preparation by collecting raw scraps of fruits and vegetables and transforming these materials into useful compost for landscaping and fertilizer projects, ultimately diverting waste from landfills. To date, this project resulted in more than 5 gallons of composting material collected, marking a historic milestone as it's the first initiative in Edison High School's history. Composting can have many benefits. It can help reduce food waste, which can save money and resources, but it can also provide other materials for later projects like landscaping and lawn care. I chose this topic because I believe that it is important to reduce food waste and recycle if possible. Also, being a part of the Climate Leader Fellowship was an amazing opportunity to partner with my dream school, Stanford University. The fellowship is a leadership development program for high school-aged students interested in climate change and environmental sustainability. It is provided by a collaboration between the Stanford University Deliberative Democracy Lab, the Rustic Pathways Foundation and Rustic Pathways. I hope that this project will continue to reduce food waste in the cafeteria, improve the environment and provide a valuable educational opportunity for students. Everyone who eats in the cafeteria would benefit from this project: • Students would learn about the importance of recycling and see how their actions can make a difference. • Staff would also benefit from this project, as they would be able to reduce the amount of food waste that they generate. Looking ahead, I plan to expand the project's reach to not only involve school staff but also students, engaging the entire cafeteria community in this impactful endeavor. In my opinion, the most important thing that people should take away from this project is the importance of knowing how much food waste we create and how just slightly reducing it has a huge impact. Food waste is a major problem. But if everyone recycles even a few scraps, we can help the environment significantly. By composting, we can reduce waste and protect the environment. I hope my project can inspire many other high schoolers to step out of their comfort zone and stand up for their passionate causes as well. If you feel passionate about climate change or something similar, I encourage you to join the next cycle of Climate Fellows in the fall. People can learn more about the fellowship by visiting rusticpathways.com/young-climate-leaders-fellowship.