Palomares Elementary School Waste Audit

As a part of CVSan’s Green Ribbon Schools Program, Palomares Elementary School completed the first waste audit of the year on Thursday, January 25th. CVSan staff and the Palomares Elementary School team of 12 students and three parent volunteers had a great time sorting through one day’s worth of garbage from the school to determine which items could have instead been placed in the recycling or organics carts.

In this hands-on learning experience, students found that out of 26.95 gallons of garbage from the day before, only 30.6% was actual garbage and therefore a total of 69.4% could have gone in the recycling or organics carts. The students learned that there is still work to be done to educate fellow students, teachers, and staff how to better sort their waste on campus. However, this year’s audit results show an improvement over last year’s results, which indicated that 75% of material in the garbage could have gone to the recycling or organics carts. Great job Palomares Elementary School for improving waste reduction at school and keep up the good work!