by Anne Donofrio-Holter
5/31/11
Arroyo High School has captured second place for its "Garbage to Garden" project in the California Air Resources Board 2011 Climate Generation annual statewide competition which challenges high school students to address climate change, clean energy and sustainability with imaginative school projects.
For their project, students Jennifer Do, Travis Hong, Elaine Lac, Andy Shen and Johnson Zhen created compost and compost bins for the school's on-campus community garden.
"We collected used pallets from the cafeteria and used that wood to create a rectangular and cylindrical bin," said instructor Lynn Dominguez, project co-advisor.
According to Dominquez, "the rectangular bin was made by placing cut pieces of the pallets in a rectangular form and using a piece of wood found on campus for the bottom. The cylindrical bin was made by placing sticks into ground in a one-meter radius circle, covering the outside with chicken wire. Because there would be the problem of the bottom of the bin being open, we used layers of old tarp to cover the bottom to keep the compost from touching the ground."
As part of the project, flyers were distributed to 50 local homes asking for trash.
"At first, we were skeptical about the participation rate of the community; however, out of the 50 houses we contacted about 16 participated, a 32% participation rate, which made the team quite ecstatic," said Trang Tong, project co-advisor.
Students used a wagon to collect the trash, which weighed 160kg, from the participating homes.
"In addition to community donations, the school maintenance administration donated grass trimmings, the woodshop class donated sawdust, the cafeteria donated perishable, organic green food and the students donated garden waste, kitchen waste and other organic material that we incorporated into the compost bins," said Dominguez. "Collecting the compost material was an entire network of people who joined together for one cause. It really showed the care of the community and how one can join together so well when asked."
Once students collected the material, they weighed it to check how much nitrogen (green) and carbon (brown) material they needed for the compost, so it would decompose effectively.
"Students also measured the calories in each item of compostable material they placed into the compost bins to determine how much energy would be saved with this sustainable project," said Dominguez.
They also used a few experimental catalysts to speed up the compost process such as earthworms, which proved to be very effective. Students made sure no carbon emissions were necessary in the process. After three weeks of maintaining the two compost bins, according to Dominguez, the students finished the compost in record time.
"Our team started with an idea; however, with innovation created 160 kg of compostable waste and converted what would be wasted garbage material of 114,497 kilocalories to energy and compost that can be used in the community garden on campus," said Dominguez. "We kept it very sustainable and replicable in other schools."
"This is a project that emphasizes bringing the community together and eventually educating the community about sustainability," said Shen.
“Climate change will affect all of us, now and well into the future, and it will take generations to overcome. These young people are showing us the way to address this challenge with on-the-ground projects that get real results,” said California Air Resources Board Chairman Mary D. Nichols.
The project was recognized with a $1500 grant from the California Air Resources Board to help the students increase their impact and effectiveness.