Save Organic Scraps (SOS) is a program started by Clark County Environmental Services to collect organic scraps in the schools for composting. The collection containers are the green bins located in your cafeteria. All paper and food products can be placed in these bins for composting. It’s important to not contaminate the bins with materials that can’t be composted.
The paper products that can be composted include: paper towels, napkins, paper bags, paper cups, pizza boxes and popsicle sticks. All food can be disposed of in the compost bin. This means everything—meat, bones, eggs, breads, cereals, fruit, vegetables, pasta, rice... If it ROTS, it can compost!
You absolutely cannot compost plastic and foil. This includes plastic utensils, juice boxes, Styrofoam, chip bags, snack wrappers, plastic bags and yogurt containers. All of these things are made in factories, not from nature. They do not ROT and some never really decompose or break down. If you have a question about what can and cannot be composted, please ask a Student Monitor, at the cafeteria sort line, or email us.
Food and paper waste from the green cafeteria bins is collected once a week and shipped to a compost facility for compost conversion. Treatment facilities help to speed up the biological process and allow this program to collect all food and paper scraps from the cafeteria. Good air flow and the right ingredients help to degrade the waste into compost. The compost is then packaged and distributed as a soil amendment to farms, nurseries, landscapers and others, who use it to promote healthy plant growth and ground water. The Washington Department of Transportation also uses compost as a road side application. Coming soon: Watch what happens when food waste leaves your school!
Compost facilities are useful for composting large amounts of wastes, like what is generated at your school, but you can compost food waste in your own backyard or kitchen with a worm bin. A worm bin is a wood or plastic box with tightly fitting lids that provide a dark, moist environment for worms. Using worms helps to speed up the decay of your food scraps, leaving you with healthy compost in just 3 to 4 months! For full details about composting and making your own worm bin, check out these resources.
Compost improves the environment by adding organic matter, microbes, nutrients, and minerals to our soil. Healthy soil reduces water and air pollutants, run-off and erosion. This is critical for air and water quality and even better for people and fish. Compost conserves water because it balances how much water is retained in the soil and how much penetrates through the soil. It also reduces or eliminates the need for chemical fertilizers that pollute groundwater, rivers and streams. Additionally, keeping food waste out of the ground and landfills reduces the amount of methane gas in the atmosphere. Methane gas contributes to global warming.
If you’ve been a Clark County student for a few years, you’ve probably learned how to recycle bottles and cans. At your school, all plastic bottles and soda cans can be recycled. Glass bottles cannot be recycled in the schools. Bottle and can recycling containers are located throughout your school, and are usually Clear Stream containers that you can see right into. Always check the label on the container before throwing in your recyclables. Putting recyclables in the wrong bins can cause a big problem for waste specialists and can seriously reduce the effectiveness of the recycling program.
Recycling bottles and cans saves energy and conserves natural resources because it reduces the need to produce products from virgin materials. A six-pack of recycled aluminum cans saves enough energy to drive a car 5 miles. Recycling bottles and cans also reduces greenhouse gas emissions by decreasing the amount of waste from landfills and the ground. Reducing greenhouse gasses keeps our air and water cleaner, and prevents global warming.
Recycled aluminum cans be made into car frames, beverage cans, windows, doors and appliances. Recycled plastic can be made into carpet, toys, flower pots and even fleece clothing.
At Clark County schools, you can recycle notebook paper, cardboard, magazines and newspapers in the blue bins in your classroom.
First, paper recycling conserves natural resources—trees. One third of the U.S. is forestland, and with paper recycling and tree planting programs, we can help to keep it that way! Paper recycling saves energy, reduces pollution and creates jobs. Producing recycled paper causes 35 percent less water pollution and creates 5 times the number of jobs than producing virgin paper. Paper recycling also saves landfill space—about 3.3 cubic yards for every ton of paper recycled.
Recycled paper can be made into toilet tissues, paper towels, paper liners, printing/copying paper, building insulation, cardboard boxes and newspaper.
Visit www.clark.wa.gov/recycle for more information on recycling, composting, and waste reduction in Clark County.
Food Garbage Signs (Download PDF)