Bayside High School To Launch On-Site Composting

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Bayside High School's gardening and vegan clubs are joining forces to launch an on-site compost to cut down on the school's waste.

The Bayside Urban Garden Composting Experience won a $2,045 grant to research, plan and test composting techniques for collecting their school's food waste. Students and faculty will then use the compost in the school's garden to grow vegetables for use in cafeteria meals.

The project team will host workshops on composting basics and eco-friendly gardening practices and form a research committee to study waste separation and collection techniques, according to their project proposal.

Students, faculty and staff will start by composting "brown" materials — leaves, straw, hay, sawdust, paper and cardboard and "green" materials, like fresh grass clippings and kitchen scraps.

They will then expand the composting project to collect organic waste from snacks and lunches from the school's cafeteria.

Bayside High School's grant was one of 298 awarded to volunteer-run community and school improvement projects under the Citizens Committee for New York City's 2019 Neighborhood Grants program.

"We believe that composting can be a very rewarding endeavor," the school's grant proposal reads. "It not only decreases the waste our school produces — it allows students to participate in an activity that benefits their community and the environment."