Congratulations to our Waste Free Wednesday challenge honorees — schools that produced the lowest cafeteria waste per student or the biggest improvement since the beginning of the school year.
To celebrate Earth Day, we joined the Issaquah School District to issue a Waste Free Wednesday challenge to schools to reduce cafeteria garbage.
Overall, 16 schools — representing more than 9,000 students and staff — accepted the challenge and weighed their cafeteria waste April 19, 2017.
The schools with the greatest waste improvement were Clark Elementary, Issaquah Middle and Liberty High schools. Clark Elementary students reduced their waste by 90 percent!
The top three elementary schools, middle school and high school are being recognized for producing the lowest waste per student on the April 19 challenge day.
Elementary leaders are Challenger Elementary with the lowest waste per student in the whole district — only 0.72 grams per student — or the same weight as one-third of a dime!
Next was Discovery Elementary with 2.4 grams per student, followed by Cascade Ridge Elementary with 3.86 grams per student.
Issaquah Middle and Liberty High schools not only had the greatest reduction since the beginning of the school year, but they also had the lowest waste per student with just 5.8 grams per student for the middle school and 4.2 grams per student for the high school.
The City of Issaquah provided schools with scales, signs to announce waste reduction, and posters showing what’s recyclable, compostable and garbage.
The biggest winner of this challenge is the environment. Each of the participating schools reduced waste and instituted changes that will last beyond Earth Day.