Beginning in Dec of 2008 we have been composting our food waste in conjunction with SPS and Cedar Grove.
There are 20 Seattle Public Schools currently involved with this program. (list below)
We are the ONLY school participating that does not have a lunch room.
Making every child at GLES aware of where their waste goes, (trash, recycle or compost)
Each class has 3 containers, trash, recycle & compost and the kids are responsible for sorting their waste.
The 5th graders pick up the compost daily and put it in our Cedar Grove dumpster.
This program is supported by our PTA. The district does not pay for the biodegradable (Bio-bags) that are needed in the compost buckets.
We use twelve 5 gallon biobags at a cost 20 cents each, as well as one 32 gallon bag at cost of 60 cents, there are 180 days in the school year. Costing the PTA more than $530 dollars per year.

A special thanks to Tom Gannon, Commercial Compost and Recycling Manager from the city who donated all of our start up materials. Including three 32 gallon bins, eighteen 4 gallon buckets and a few
months worth of biobags. As well as Nicole Riss from the school district and Jessica Wicksnin from Cedar Grove.

As a school we are trying to look for new ways to be "green", this includes;
Using compostable plates, cups ect at school functions, (school tours, family fun nights ect).
Using organic compost (that our kids make through this program) on our outdoor spaces.
We are working with Cartridge World to collect empty printer cartridges. These are collected in the office and Cartridge World pays our PTA cash for them.

We are always interested in new ways to be greener, please contact Tamar at tamarschamhart@yahoo.com with any ideas

School composting program

District recycling program

There are a total of 20 schools with student/staff run composting program, plus JSCEE Central Kitchen:

• High Schools= Garfield, Ballard
• K-8= Pathfinder, Salmon Bay, TOPS
• Elementary= Green Lake, Olympic View, Thornton Creek, Greenwood,
• Stevens, Lowell, Montlake, Sacajawea, Loyal Heights, Gatewood, Muir,
• West Woodland, Concord, Laurelhurst, Lawton.