Oceano 5th and 6th grade students have been turning food waste into usable compost for eight years now. Teacher Jim DeCecco digs the disposal hole in a worm bin every morning so he can monitor the bins, which are behind the cafeteria in a spot that he wouldn’t ordinarily walk by. At Oceano, composting is a student-led program. Select students are stationed at containers and help other students to separate food waste as they go through a line. They collect and bury food waste from student lunches and salad bar leftovers every day. Jim feels like it is important to have a committed principal for the program to succeed. Not only do they keep a lot of food waste out of the landfill, they also use the finished compost in the school garden.

Compost bins are behind the cafeteria.

Before school, a trench gets dug in one of the compost bins.

When students are finished with lunch, they separate their waste.

Compostable material is collected

Students being composting to the bins.

They chop up the waste and bury it.