"Composting for Change" from PolyDays Magazine 2022

If you’ve been following Poly’s student-led climate initiatives, you might be familiar with stellar seventh-grader Audrey M. ’27 who leads the Middle School’s Sustainability Club. Audrey is so well-known on the north campus that she is even experiencing celeb-like sightings from Lower Schoolers.

Some days, she will be getting picked up on Wilson for carpool, and Lower Schoolers will approach her saying, “Oh, you’re the cow fart girl, right?”

“I have an eight-year-old brother at home, so I started running my Sustainability speeches by him,” she shared. “I used some jokes to see if he would understand. And eventually I turned to telling jokes about cow farts, because even though they're a real issue, they do impact our atmosphere the same way as methane gas.”

Climate change is a major concern for our youth, and Poly has made strides to reduce its carbon footprint. Many sectors of the school have lended support for the issue, led by Sustainability Manager Laura Fleming, Manager of Safety and Sustainability Dave Yamaoka, Chief Financial Officer Keith Huyssoon, Upper School’s Closing the Loop Group and Middle School’s Sustainability Club, and the entire Operations team. Though this initiative started with a focus on Poly’s campus, the work of these groups has led to neighborhood, city, and even state and national reverberations.

A 2019 PolySummer waste reduction pilot project sparked student efforts. “When I learned that leftover food that ends up in the landfill produces methane gas, a major contributor to climate change, I saw this is an important educational opportunity for our students. They could make a positive impact on climate change every day, just by sorting their leftover food at lunch,” said Laura Fleming, who then served as the pilot project manager.

By Spring 2020, Middle School students were learning about the connection between food waste and climate change. A group of then eighth-graders took a deep dive into this sustainability issue and studied how Poly could manage campus-generated organics in a more sustainable way. Their research project culminated in a presentation to Poly leaders seeking approval to pilot composting, and the answer was a resounding yes.

In the Fall of 2020, Poly’s first composting initiative was founded with compost bins in the Middle School Garden. As students returned from remote learning, the Middle School Sustainability Club began sorting lunch waste, composting, and creating videos to educate peers about the impact of food waste on climate change. When the now rising juniors saw what had been accomplished in the Middle School, they formed their own club in the Upper School and instituted waste sorting in the Fall of 2021 calling themselves the Closing the Loop Group led by Evelyn Y. ’24, Kamryn C. ’24, Bianca H. ’24, and Mimi R. ’24.

“One of the benefits of this work being in a school is that it provides an outlet for students who are passionate about climate action to affect change right here on campus, and it creates leadership opportunities,” said Laura Fleming. “Their initiatives led to K-12 participation in waste sorting and composting that didn’t exist six months before.

The Closing the Loop Group and club advisor, Laura Fleming, recently met with Caltech's Sustainability Manager Maximilian Christman and graduate students to encourage the college to expand its sorting and composting initiatives and even consider sharing tools for larger scale composting with an in-vessel composter. The machine, which is as large as a classroom, has spinning blades like a blender that automates the composting process and would significantly increase both campuses’ capacities to compost.

“Poly’s student sustainability efforts serve as an excellent example for Caltech students, staff, and faculty. Their on-campus composting solution provides a useful and hopefully scalable model for hyperlocal yard and food waste management,” said Caltech’s Maximilian.

When SB1383, a California-wide composting initiative was unveiled, many Pasadena and Los Angeles residents were confused about what goes in what bin and how to manage the process. Poly’s Sustainability Club and Closing the Loop once again demystified these changes with their educational newsletters and presentations, sharing that compost could now be bagged and disposed of in green waste bins in most municipal areas.

The efforts did not stop there, however, with Closing the Loop engaging with Pasadena Public Works to understand the city's challenges and improve their processes, including advocating for alternative collection methods that would reduce transportation emissions. They have additionally contacted Pasadena City College to help support a sustainable future.

The school’s efforts have even received national acclaim, with a recent United Nations article commending the work of Poly's students.

“I think that our work has been going strong, and we see sustainability going strong at Poly because our students have the courage to overcome their fears and anxiety about climate change in order to do their best to create change,” said Mimi R. ’24.

At the heart of this work from all stakeholders is the desire to create a livable environment for generations to come. To that end, Poly has made steps to assess its viability for carbon neutrality by the year 2030 and to join other green schools that have made the pledge. If you haven’t seen the impact of our students' work yet, you can visit the original composting bin on the Middle School campus, see the earthy remains of lunches past, and thank our students for their efforts.