Madison Students Take Trash Seriously
By LARRY GRARD
MADISON — Until Thursday, students at Madison Junior High School might not have noticed the trays being used lately to hold their food. They’re more interested, after all, in the food.
But during a presentation in the school’s auditorium, fifth-graders Alexandria Jarvais, Shelby Cutten and Kirsten Wood filled their fellow students in. Since last month, they have been eating green — as in from trays that are biodegradable.
Alexandria, Shelby and Kirsten are responsible for a shift from Styrofoam trays that linger in landfills to “Green Wave” servers that can be recycled. Taking a tip from a film they saw last autumn in Lloyd Brown’s classroom, they worked for weeks to effect change. They circulated a petition, then convinced the school administration to make the switch last month.
“We’re trying to stop some of the pollution that’s going on in our world,” Wood said.
Shelby echoed her classmate’s sentiments.
“Pictures of trash going into the ocean and on highways are bothersome,” she said.
So, at a cost of 7 cents a tray — 3 cents more than the Styrofoam servers — Madison Junior High uses the Green Wave cafeteria tray on days when the kitchen staff is shorthanded. When the kitchen is fully staffed, the school still uses hard plastic trays that are washed.
Thursday was a “shorthanded” day. While students walked through the cafeteria line with their Green Wave trays, Principal Bonnie Levesque heaped praise on those who made it happen.
“I am so impressed,” Levesque said. “They’re fifth-graders, new to the building and they had the character and the determination to follow through with it.”
Shelby recalled the starting point, in Brown’s classroom.
“We were watching a movie about how the Styrofoam trays we were using here take 1 million years to decompose,” Shelby said.
Quickly, they sought to find out why.
“So we helped them in the kitchen for a while,” Kirsten said. “That way they had more time to wash trays.”
After helping in the kitchen, the three 11-year-olds met with the kitchen employees and with school food service official Doris Lindblom.
They proposed “to stop using the Styrofoam trays, bowls and cups and find a cleaner, healthier and reusable item that will keep our environment safe and clean.” They presented the petition to Lindblom, who typed it into the computer.
After students signed it, Lindblom directed the girls to bring the document to Superintendent Sandra MacArthur, who serves as the district food service director.
“I just felt it was that important,” Lindblom said. “People in the food service we contract with knew about the Green Wave trays.”
MacArthur asked the students to do more research. She referred them to Brian Mitchell, recycling coordinator in Madison.
In February, MacArthur made the move.
“I think it’s wonderful that we have students who want to take on a project like this, both for their school community and for the Earth in general,” MacArthur said.
Their work is not finished. Jarvais, Shelby and Kirsten plan to organize bottle drives and other fundraisers to pay for the more expensive trays.
Alexandria pointed out that Mitchell also convinced them to put “paper only” signs on recycling bins.
Beyond that, they want to see the trays used in schools throughout School Administrative District 59, and eventually in other school districts.
Brown said he has shown the same film in past years. This year was different.
“They are the first kids that actually acted on it,” he said. “It just kind of evolved. Styrofoam came up as being a non-renewable resource.”
Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel
Hello-
I think this program in wonderful. I’m really upset over our school’s styrofoam tray lunch program. Would you be able to tell me what company supplies the biodegradable trays, along with the title of the movie that this teacher shows his class? Thank you & keep up the great work!
Kim Dahlberg
My first grade class in preparing for Earth Day, has been investigating better ways to recycle. They have become aware of the negative uses of Styrofoam used in their school lunches. We are in process of writing letters to the P.T.O., the principal, and the Board of Ed. to inform them of our concerns and in hopes of eliminating the use of Styrofoam in our school. In addition,we plan to circulate a petition We’d be interested in learning the name of the video that the children watch in Lloyd Brown’s classrom. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Donna Pittel
Mariela Freay
R.N. Wilentz School
Perth Amboy, NJ 08861
Where does one begin? I would love to have the school district where I live eliminate the styrofoam trays. It makes me so sad to see all the “hazardous waste” leave our childrens hands and go into our landfills and stay around for their furture. Are we teaching them how to be wasteful? How can I make changes?
–Ann Treacy
As a parent, I would like to research biodegradable options to the polystyrene lunch trays that my daughter’s school uses. Can anyone recommend suppliers of cardboard or cornstarch trays? I will have to compare prices and convince the school that the change is feasible. My email is cstine@evenlink.com. Thanks
It is now possible to replace Styrofoam with Biodegradable, compostable disposable tableware made from 100% bagasse – sugarcane fiber remaining after extraction of juice from the sugarcane. Sugarcane is not only a readily renewable resource, but the sugarcane fiber can be turned into products normally made from plastic or paper and avoids pollution from normal burning of sugarcane pulp after juice extraction. It is a far superior alternative to both plastic (non-biodegradable, petroleum derived, pollution causing) and paper tableware.
• Microwave and freezer safe
• Handles hot liquids up to 200 Fahrenheit (moisture forms at the bottom for hot food items)
• Sterilized and sanitized, conforms to US Food & Drug Administration guidelines
• Fully compostable, sturdy and strong
Bioplastic corn starch We can supply to and encourage large scale users of plastic/paper/styrofoam such as restaurants, school districts, universities, government & corporate cafeterias to switch to these “biocompostables” to reduce the impact on the environment. Please, email us or call us at bio@worldcentric.org or 650-283-3797 for pricing, questions or comments and we will work with you to get these products be used in your school, university, cafeteria, business, restaurant.
Bagasse 5 Compartment Biodegradable Tray
Weight: 21 gr. each
Length: 10″, Width: 8.5″, Depth: 1″
1 pack/100 count, $8.25 Add to Cart
Case: 4 packs/400 count, $28.00 Add to Cart
As you see, the cost is about 7 cents/tray. Could we offer students the option of paying 10 cents more if they prefer to use this alternative?
Hi, I’m a 7th grader in Oregon doing the exact same thing; trying to switch my school trays from foam to hard plastic.
I am a teacher in Colorado desperately trying to find information about the wastefulness of school lunch trays. Do you have any websites/books/movies (Lloyd Brown’s??) that you could recomend to help my research?
Thank you,
Jessica
I also as many others was bothered by the fact that school systems in Florida also use styrafoam ..
For weeks I have been researching, but i don’t know where to start, can you please give me information..
you are really a renegade heroe.. Bless you!
Hi i’m a 7th grader and i’m trying to do the same thing with my school i just proposed itr to my principle he said it was a fantastic idea but he said i need to right a 2 page report in 3 DAYS!!!!!! well see i have that down BUT i need to figure out where you get yours from so could you please give me more information on where you got it at or where you got it from and how much it was so bye.
thnx you guys sooo much.
Sincerely,
Marissa
Hi. We are a group of teachers hoping to eliminate our styrofoam trays, too. Is it possible to find out where to purchase the Green Wave trays and to also locate the video
by Lloyd Brown. Thanks for the positive stories.
I love the idea of switching to the green products, but everyone needs to realize that although 7 cents per tray doesn’t sound like much you are talking about $35 per case of 500. That is more than 2 times what schools currently pay for foam (around $16 for a case of 500). I find that schools are already strapped on budgets and adding cost to be green just isn’t there. The other point to look at is these Green wave trays are imported from the far east (China). That includes pollution associated with transporting the product here in a container. This also raises quality issues. You then have to facor in the polution created in the country of origin. I find it hard to convince people that buying a “green” tray imported from China is better than a foam tray produced in the US.
great! i luv this idea! how do you buy the trays! please tell me how much these cost! send the info to my e-mail please!
anthony, but with foam it will still be traveled in a container. so it does make a difference.
This is a WONDERFUL idea… I’m going to talk to somebody about this at my school! Who knows… It might be easier than it sounds!☺
I am a mother who wants to get rid of styrofoam trays in our school system. Please let me know the company you used for the green wave trays.
Thanks!
I am a lunch lady for a small charter school. We would like to switch to environmentally friendly trays. What company did you use? Please email me the information. Thank You!
This is amazing! Our school has the styrofoam trays, and our environment club is looking for an alternative! I absolutly love the Green Way Trays idea! I’m pitching it to the club on Tuesday, so if there is anymore information that could be useful send it too my email! thanks so much!