{"id":55722,"date":"2014-05-20T11:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=55722"},"modified":"2014-05-17T15:32:27","modified_gmt":"2014-05-17T19:32:27","slug":"oneida-herkimer-solid-waste-authority-announces-winners-of-the-4th-annual-zero-waste-lunch-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=55722","title":{"rendered":"Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority Announces Winners of the 4th Annual Zero Waste Lunch Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ZWLs<\/a>(Oneida, Herkimer County, NY – May 2014) The Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority sponsored its fourth annual Zero Waste Lunch Challenge for all public and private K-12 school buildings in Oneida and Herkimer Counties.<\/p>\n

The purpose of the Zero Waste Lunch Challenge was to demonstrate how students can reduce the amount of waste they produce.<\/p>\n

Twelve school buildings from Oneida and Herkimer Counties participated. In preparation for the Challenge, students were educated about ways to reduce the amount of lunch waste they produce and reviewed daily recycling guidelines through holding assemblies, classroom and cafeteria presentations, and informational displays throughout the schools.<\/p>\n

Although the Zero Waste Lunch Challenge was only based on
\none day, many schools are taking waste reduction efforts and implementing them daily, such as composting food waste and using silverware instead of plastic ware. The schools that participated reduced their amount of
\ncafeteria waste by over 50 percent and some by over 75 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been amazing to see the significant reduction in cafeteria waste that schools have achieved through their efforts,\u201d said Jamie Tuttle, Authority School Recycling Coordinator. \u201cThe Challenge was an opportunity to urge schools to instill daily changes for reducing waste as well as a lesson to teach students that if we all make a few small changes, we can have a significant impact,\u201d continued Tuttle.<\/p>\n

The twelve participating schools were:<\/p>\n

1. Central Valley Academy \u2013 Central Valley School District
\n2. Harts Hill Elementary School \u2013 Whitesboro Central School District
\n3. Holland Patent Elementary School \u2013 Holland Patent Central School District
\n4. Holland Patent Middle School \u2013 Holland Patent Central School District
\n5. Jarvis Middle School \u2013 Central Valley School District
\n6. John F. Kennedy Middle School \u2013 Utica City School District
\n7. Louis V. Denti Elementary School \u2013 Rome City School District
\n8. Sauquoit Valley Elementary School \u2013 Sauquoit Valley Central School District
\n9. Sauquoit Valley Middle School \u2013 Sauquoit Valley Central School District
\n10. Staley Upper Elementary School \u2013 Rome City School District
\n11. Utica Academy of Science Charter School
\n12. Whitesboro Middle School \u2013 Whitesboro Central School District<\/p>\n

\"Denti<\/a>The elementary school with the lowest percentage of lunchtime waste per student on the day of the Challenge was Louis V. Denti Elementary School of the Rome City School District. The Authority will award Louis V. Denti Elementary School with the grand prize, which will be presentations from the Utica Zoo\u2019s \u201cZoomobile.\u201d During lunch on the days before the Challenge, Denti Elementary School produced an average of 170 pounds oflunchtime waste with approximately 500 students present (that equals over 14 tons of garbage per school year). On the day of the Challenge, Denti produced an astonishing 0.4 pounds of garbage during all of the lunch periods! Beyond the obvious conservation of materials and landfill space, if this rate were sustained, the school would save over $1,000.00 annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a perfect example of how students can make a huge difference with a few small actions, such as packing reusable and recyclable items in their lunches. I look forward to following up with schools in the weeks to come to see the lasting changes that were made through promoting waste reduction and awareness,\u201d said Tuttle.<\/p>\n

The middle school building with the lowest percentage of lunchtime waste per student was Holland Patent Middle School. With 313 students in attendance, Holland Patent Middle School produced only 2 pounds of cafeteria garbage! In addition to recycling paper, plastic, milk cartons, metal and glass, Holland Patent also participates in the Authority\u2019s food waste composting program. During the Zero Waste Lunch, individual students stepped outside the cafeteria door and placed their leftover food scraps directly into the school\u2019s composting unit. Once the food scraps are composted, the finished compost will be used in the Middle School\u2019s garden. Holland Patent Middle School will be awarded the grand prize, which will be appearances from the KISS FM DJs for a live, remote radio broadcast.<\/p>\n

In addition, both winning schools\u2019 Green Teams will be awarded tours of the Authority\u2019s Single Stream Recycling Center with all transportation costs paid by the Authority.<\/p>\n

With strong efforts from Louis V. Denti Elementary School\u2019s Principal Sherry Lubey, Denti Green Team Leaders Eileen Woodcock and Megan Barber and their Green Team, Holland Patent Middle School\u2019s Principal Charles Pratt, Holland Patent Green Team Leader and science teacher Stacey Smith and their Green Team, the student body, parents, custodians, and cafeteria staff, these schools have made significant impacts on the amount of cafeteria waste produced. Both schools continue to expand their recycling programs and students in both schools are reminded regularly of waste reducing strategies to use during lunchtime as well as in other aspects of daily life through various \u201cgreen\u201d initiatives.<\/p>\n

The Authority would also like to acknowledge Harts Hill Elementary School and John F. Kennedy Middle School for their outstanding efforts in this year\u2019s Challenge. Thanks to the Green Team\u2019s effort, enthusiasm and hard work, with 341 students, Harts Hill Elementary produced just 0.5 pounds of garbage during their Zero Waste Lunch and John F. Kennedy Middle School produced only 4.5 pounds of garbage with over 600 students in attendance during the lunch periods.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Authority\u2019s School Recycling Program, contact Jamie Tuttle, School Recycling \u00a0Coordinator, at (315) 733-1224 ext. 2300 or visit www.ourgreenteam.org<\/a> to download the School Recycling Program Guide.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Oneida, Herkimer County, NY – May 2014) The Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority sponsored its fourth annual Zero Waste Lunch Challenge for all public and private K-12 school buildings in Oneida and Herkimer Counties. The purpose of the Zero Waste Lunch Challenge was to demonstrate how students can reduce the amount of waste they produce. Twelve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22341],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-regional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}