Correction: The grant was made available by the USDA for compost and food waste reduction pilot projects for fiscal year 2022. The article has been updated to reflect the correct year.
For grade schools in three of the Cross-Community Climate Collaborative member communities, the start of the school year meant more than classroom education.
Thanks to a $300,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, officials of schools in Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood started working toward educating their students about composting in their school lunchrooms.
The C4 initiative was created in June 2022 by officials from 12 west suburban municipalities and spearheaded by Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman and River Forest Village President Cathy Adduci. It is designed to bring together Black, indigenous and people of color and non-minority communities across income lines to share ideas, secure resources and drive large-scale projects within and across communities that achieve agreed upon greenhouse gas emissions reductions, equity and sustainability goals.
The USDA grant allows school district officials to participate in the Seven Generations Ahead Zero Waste Schools program, which will incorporate food scrap diversion systems within schools and establish food recovery protocols toward significantly reducing food waste and returning finished compost back into the communities for use in school and community gardens and landscaping.
The $300,000 grant is part of $9.5 million made available by the USDA for compost and food waste reduction pilot projects for fiscal year 2022. The cooperative agreements support projects that develop and test strategies for planning and implementing municipal compost plans and food waste reduction plans. They are part of USDA’s broader efforts to support urban agriculture.
“These cooperative agreements support communities in their efforts to reduce and divert food waste from landfills,” said Terry Cosby, chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “These projects will empower communities to reduce waste and support agricultural producers through increased access to compost to improve soil health on their operations.”
SGA, founded in 2001 in Oak Park by Gary Cuneen, works with local government, community and private sector leaders to help communities make the changes they need to build a healthy and sustainable future.
According to the SGA website, the Zero Waste Schools program works with school staff and students to shift operations and minds towards generating zero waste through source reduction, recycling, composting and food recovery. The program has already been implemented at Oak Park and River Forest High School, as well as across the Chicago metro area. Other projects are in Chicago, Lake County and McHenry County.
Becky Brodsky, Zero Waste Schools program manager, said the program began at Holmes Elementary School in Oak Park in 2008 and “over the following years” spread to all District 97 elementary schools.
“We’ve officially launched around 45 schools in the program and have helped hundreds of others schools get on the path to zero waste by sharing resources and best practices,” she added.
Brodsky said she and others from SGA have been meeting with school district officials, explaining that setting up at the district level makes it easier to implement the program at the individual schools.
“Principals and district officials are very excited about the program,” she said.
She said she hopes to launch the program in two or three schools this fall, explaining that they usually stagger the launch of the program if there are multiple schools in a district participating.
“We start the program according to when the schools will be ready,” she explained.
Brodsky said the program is tailored to each school’s need, noting “It’s not a one size fits all” program.
“We want to set the schools up for success,” she added. “It’s a hands-on opportunity for students with climate anxiety.
“It gives them something tangible they can do and allows them to do something about climate change.”
According to the SGA website, zero waste is a path and SGA’s role lies in meeting schools where they are in the process and supporting the changes needed until zero waste is the new normal for schools and the next generation of environmental leaders. On average, schools that have been supported in implementing commercial composting and recycling programs divert as much as 80 to 85 percent from the landfill.
In addition to the Zero Waste Schools program, the USDA grant will be used to help officials in Bellwood, Broadview and Maywood develop composting programs for their residents through their waste hauling services.
“We really want it to be for the whole community,” Brodsky said.
Jen Nelson, SGA program director, explained that although 70 municipalities in northern Illinois have food scrap pickup, the service is relatively new to Cook County. She described Lake County as being one of the success stories.
“We’re looking for ways to provide the service to communities that don’t have it,” Nelson said, noting that SGA can tell municipal officials what they should be asking for in their hauling contracts.
For example, when Broadview’s waste hauler contract was up, SGA provided the language for the contract for a new waste hauler. A similar situation is developing in Bellwood, where officials are meeting with that municipality’s waste hauler.
“We are already paying to have food scrap removed” under existing waste hauler contracts, Nelson explained.
The goal is to divert food scrap from the landfill not unlike municipal recycling programs.