When AP Environmental Science students poured out the waste bins in the science quad and examined what we throw away at LHS, a large portion of the material was compostable or recycle-able cardboard food trays from our cafeteria. Take out the trays, and the waste stream reduced by nearly 50%.
Fast food restaurants do this already by supplying a place for customers to stack their trays!
This started APES/Green Engineering students on a project to design and build tray holders that would fit the tops of our recycle stations. The simpler-the-better. Clear signage, coordinated school colors, strong materials. Angles, assembly surfaces, and attachments points were all designed and a prototype was built.
When everything works as planned, students do not need instruction. The use of the tray holder is intuitive! The prototype is generating cardboard trays, so we have success.
Head Custodian, Mr. Malaca, indicated that custodians appreciate hauling smaller quantities of material to the trash compactor, and that the cardboard trays will be taken to the paper/cardboard bin for reycling.
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