Cafeteria moves to composting and reuseable trays

The school district food service program made a substantial change that has had a lasting impact on the district while teaching students the value of recycling and managing waste. They have implemented a composting program and replaced throw away trays with new reuseable plastic.

The state of Washington banned most expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam containers, which included styrofoam starting 2024. This change led the district to replace their food tray system to reuseable red meal trays.

"We have talked about it for several years," shared food service director Krista Fritzie. "The price of compostable trays was too high and having time to wash all the reuseable trays and silverware after lunch always stopped the progress of making it happen."

Over the summer the kitchen was reconfigured to process the trays for cleaning. With the four-day week implemented this year, the daily schedule allowed time to make the change since the afternoons are longer. According to Fritize the reuseable trays and silverware will pay for themselves in a few short months.

The true savings is having less trash headed to the landfill. The district expects to have costs savings of $3000 annually. Principal Reese is excited about the change saying, "little things make a big difference."

In addition, there is a teachable moment for students that enjoy a hot lunch each day. Students are using the trays which are environmentally friendly, and they are also being taught how to reduce waste by dividing it into composting buckets. "Hopefully the students will help with our efforts to reduce our waste by only taking what they plan to eat and sharing what is reuseable instead of just throwing it in the trash can," Fritzie added.