The Nation’s First Comprehensive Zero Waste Schools Program

Since 2005, public schools throughout Boulder County have partnered with Eco-Cycle to become Green Star Schools® and 66 are currently enrolled. This award-winning education program is the first in the nation to address waste reduction and the collection of compostables and recyclables in every aspect of school life, from classrooms and hallways to cafeterias and special events.

Under the direction of Eco-Cycle educators, students, teachers, and staff at Green Star Schools become Zero Waste pros, recycling and composting up to two-thirds of all their waste while also striving to prevent waste in the first place.

How Many Students We Serve

Currently, there are more than 26,400 students and 3,400 staff at the 66 schools enrolled. Twenty-two additional schools have already signed up to join the program as funding becomes available and are eager to start working toward Zero Waste. Additional schools are being accepted on a waitlist; please contact us if you are interested.

Support Green Star Schools

Twenty-two schools are on a waitlist to become a Green Star School and funding is needed to help them adopt the program.

• Donate today to help make 20 additional schools go for Zero Waste!

What Makes a Green Star School?

A New Way of Doing Lunch

One of the most noticeable changes for students at Green Star Schools is their new way of handling lunch leftovers.

During the lunch hour, instead of dumping food scraps, plastic utensils, and excess packaging into a trash can, kids use a special station where they deposit reusable serviceware into hot, soapy water to be washed and reused; milk and juice containers into a recycling bin; and sandwich crusts, banana peels, other food leftovers, along with nonrecyclable paper such as napkins or paper towels, into a compost bin.

Kids who bring lunch from home are encouraged to eliminate trash by bringing a waste-free lunch, replacing overly packaged foods with Zero Waste alternatives such as cloth lunch bags, cloth napkins, reusable utensils, and reusable or recyclable drink and food containers. Students who opt to order food from the cafeteria menu are served lunch in reusable bowls and cups rather than polystyrene (aka “Styrofoam”) and eat with washable, reusable cutlery. By purchasing with Zero Waste in mind,  school staff have eliminated most disposables from many Green Star Schools cafeterias.

Going for Zero Waste in the Classrooms, Halls, and Washrooms

It’s not just the reduction of lunchtime waste that’s impressive at these schools—it’s the commitment students, teachers, kitchen staff, custodial staff, and administrators have made to reduce waste all day long. Throughout the halls and classrooms, discards are treated differently. Recycling and composting bins—not trash cans—are ubiquitous. Even in the washrooms, students are reminded they are part of a very special program: Compost containers have replaced trash cans for used paper towels and tissues.

Thinking Critically About Resource Use

The Green Star Schools program also includes a strong education component. Zero Waste training includes site visits, faculty meetings, waste audits, kick-off assemblies, class-by-class instruction, and lunchroom monitoring. Throughout the year, Eco-Cycle staff continues to give classroom presentations on recycling, composting, waste reduction, and other environmental topics, such as pollution, household hazardous waste, forest ecology, water conservation, and energy conservation. Students learn to think critically about their own resource use and how they can conserve natural resources, reduce waste, and protect our environment.

Special Waste Reduction Activities

Eco-Cycle provides special waste-reduction projects every year to help the Green Star Schools reduce their waste even further. Projects include worm bin composting programs, refillable water bottle water fountain retrofits, Zero Waste School Events, Zero Waste school fundraisers with used books from Eco-Cycle’s CHaRMed Books, the Green Star Schools Waste-Free Lunch Contest, the end-of-the-year Classroom Cleanout project, and more.

Program Objectives

Reduce Waste

Eco-Cycle provides ongoing trainings and special waste reduction activities for Green Star Schools. To gauge progress toward Zero Waste and provide concrete feedback for students, Eco-Cycle conducts “waste audits” where students dig through the trash to see what is being thrown out and how their actions can impact the waste stream. Other projects include Waste-Free Lunch Contests, and Zero Waste School Events, such as spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, and other school fundraising events. Free books are provided to Green Star Schools through Eco-Cycle’s CHaRMed Books for fundraisers, classroom libraries, and student incentives. In addition, Eco-Cycle works with school food service staff to discontinue the use of disposable plastic, paper, and polystyrene (aka “Styrofoam”) serviceware and to substitute reusable food serviceware whenever possible.

Increase Recycling

All public schools in Boulder County are part of Eco-Cycle’s School Recycling and Environmental Education Program, actively recycling mixed paper and commingled containers. In addition, schools in the Boulder Valley School District are recycling hard-to-recycle materials with Eco-Cycle, such as electronic waste and books. At Green Star Schools, students and teachers are retrained on recycling guidelines and motivated to increase their overall recycling rate. Recycling collection opportunities are expanded to include additional bins for drink containers in both the cafeterias and classrooms.

Implement Collection of Compostables

The collection of compostables includes food scraps and nonrecyclable paper from the kitchen, cafeteria, classrooms, and bathrooms (paper towels). Organic materials are sent to a large-scale composting facility (rather than the landfill). Education projects, such as field trips and presentations, increase awareness about the benefits of composting.

Improve Environmental Awareness & Motivate Participation

Students in Green Star Schools learn how consumption patterns, waste generation, and the handling of waste affect natural resources and environmental quality. As participants, students see how their daily actions conserve or deplete natural resources, energy, and landfill space. Ongoing field trips, classroom presentations, waste reduction projects, and special recognition celebrations for schools that have met their five- and ten-year anniversaries in the program help to reinvigorate and retrain students and staff in participating schools.

Each year, we conducted Five-Year and Ten-Year Celebrations to acknowledge those schools that recently completed one of these program anniversaries. Celebrations include an award assembly at which a certificate of recognition is presented by the Superintendent of Schools and/or a Boulder County Commissioner. The Ten-Year Celebrations also include a presentation by Hawk Quest featuring live birds of prey. The goal is to help students understand the connection between Zero Waste and preserving the natural world. Following the assemblies, two to three days of reinforcement and retraining activities take place for students and staff including classroom presentations, lunchroom quizzes, cloth-napkin making, and a spin-the-wheel quiz activity at recess.

Lower Each School’s Trash Bill

Most of the schools participating in Eco-Cycle’s School Recycling and Environmental Education Program are already diverting one-third of their waste from the landfill through recycling. By implementing the Green Star Schools program, another one-third of waste is diverted due to increased recycling and the collection of organic materials. The overall average rate of diversion for Green Star Schools is two-thirds. Such a high diversion rate could not be accomplished without the ongoing, customized education, training, and troubleshooting Eco-Cycle provides for each school, and the full participation of thousands of students and staff.

Special Events and Projects

Zero Waste Events at School

Green Star Schools’ students, parents, and staff are invited to collaborate with us to make their all-school events, such as fairs and fundraising dinners, into Zero Waste Events. School program staff work with the planning committee of parents and/or teachers to ensure all foodservice items are recyclable, compostable, or reusable. Eco-Cycle staffs the Zero Waste station and an information table at the event.

Tips for Parents: Packing a Waste-Free Lunch

An important part of making the Green Star Schools project a success is avoiding waste in the first place. Did you know that approximately one-third of all trash is packaging? For this reason, we are asking students and their families to pack waste-free lunches by using recyclable and reusable containers whenever possible.

Here are some tips for helping students create a waste-free lunch:

• Use reusable lunch bags or boxes
• Pack food in reusable containers
• Bring drinks in refillable or recyclable containers
• Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins
• Provide reusable eating utensils

Old clothes can be made into cloth napkins, thrift shops sell cheap reusable eating utensils, and food containers can be reused to hold snacks. Even doing one or two things from the list above will make a big difference!

Inquiries and Questions

Please contact Kathy Nguyen, Green Star Schools Program Manager: (303) 444-6634 ext. 141, [email protected].

Green Star Schools Sponsors

Thanks to our Green Star Schools funders for their support of the program during the 2022-23 school year.