News

For many years, Springmont has embraced Maria Montessori’s belief that the “land is where our roots are,” and as such, we should treat the environment with respect. At Springmont, we have recycled for many years, and several years ago, we added our own compost piles on campus where we have composted as much as we could.

This year, we have taken our commitment one step further and are partnering with CompostNow to compost items not readily compostable in a home compost pile. Thanks to this partnership, we can compost the many pizza boxes generated by our Middle School Pizza Shop program, paper towels, meats, dairy, fats, and our new compostable plates, cups, and flatware! Each classroom and common area has its own small pail to fill - these are emptied into larger industrial bins daily. Upper Elementary students are responsible for moving the bins into place for weekly pick up on Friday mornings. CompostNow leaves clean bins in place of the filled bins, and the process begins again.

Students have had lessons on what can and cannot be composted, and without doubt, the new initiative has been enthusiastically embraced by students and faculty alike. Even Primary students understand that composting creates beautiful, healthy dirt for growing our fruits and vegetables! Older students further appreciate that up to 60% of what goes to landfills is compostable and by keeping compostables out of landfills, we reduce methane (a gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide) production and reduce the amount of space required for landfills.

CompostNow provides a monthly “Impact Report” detailing how much compost we keep out of landfills. In just one month of composting on campus, we diverted 629 lbs of compostables from the landfill! This amount created 63 lbs of compost, which is capable of growing 472 tomatoes. Moreover, 65 lbs of methane were not released, and we kept 1635 lbs of CO2e (total greenhouse gases emitted) out of the atmosphere. Way to go, Springmont!