Sarah Rubin and Sherry Coyne and their students from the seventh grade Little River Team at Gorham Middle School participated in the Chewonki Foundation’s Zero Waste Challenge. According to the Chewonki website, middle school classrooms (grades 6,7,8) are invited and encouraged to take the challenge to help their schools save money and resources by evaluating their waste stream and creating a plan to reduce waste.
Sarah reports that the team visited Ecomaine earlier in the year. Ecomaine is the waste to energy plant and single stream recycling facility where all of their waste goes. Sarah reports, “Our kids got to see first hand where their trash and recycling goes from their homes and our school.”
“Our project has focused on analyzing our school’s waste, improving the recycling program, introducing composting, and trying to ‘buy smart’ which means buying reuseable and sustainably made products rather than disposable or unsustainable products.”
The team did well this year! They have not decided what they will do with the prize money yet, but the team is looking to improve composting at their school and to improve sustainability education for the other students.
We have moved! 