Green Initiatives

Composting and Recycling in the School Cafeterias

In 2018 the North Andover Public School district was awarded a highly competitive grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) to reduce waste. This funding enabled our students at North Andover Middle School (NAMS), Thomson, Atkinson, and Kittredge to begin a lunchroom sorting process in 2019-2020 to decrease their waste that will act as a guide for their future and the future of the Planet.  Over 30,000 pounds was diverted that year alone!

Though the program was put on hold at these schools due to the pandemic, we were able to successfully begin the program again at all eight of our public schools last year!  And we are back at it this year!  In just 6 weeks since school began in 2023, over 10,000 pounds of uneaten food scraps and other organic matter (lunch trays, napkins, brown lunch bags) has been diverted from going to the trash, and instead is being picked up by our compost hauler, Bootstrap Compost, and turned into nutrient-rich soil, that can be used again to plant crops.

In addition, we are saving upwards of 45 trash bags per day across the school cafeterias, lessening the amount of trash we have, and in turn trash bags we are using.  This is a significant amount of waste that would otherwise go into a landfill or over to the trash plant on Holt Road in North Andover to be incinerated, but instead is being sorted so that the organic matter we generate is instead going to local farms in Massachusetts and being gradually turned into compost. 

This process includes: 

• Pouring off liquids to reduce weight in the trash.

• Recycling container (if applicable).

• Disposing of uneaten food waste and other compostable items in a designated bin which will be taken offsite to a nearby farm where it will decompose and become nutrient-rich compost.

• Put any remaining unopened food in a container for Food Rescue to bring to a local shelter.

• Throw what remains into the trash.

These programs wouldn’t be possible without the help and support of our custodial and lunch room staff... thank you!

Along with the help from the staff, students are hands-on learning about how this project impacts our school, community and world. With a designated Green Team lead teacher at each school, students are developing green teams which will include students who have a special interest in these topics to develop their leadership skills. This process is raising students’ environmental awareness, reducing the waste they produce, and teaching our kids the importance of doing their part to help our planet and our local environment.

Interested in helping!?  We could use community support! If you are interested in being a part of this, volunteering an hour of your time at the High School to help teach/guide students, or donating supplies (we always need disposable gloves for the students!) or have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact Joanna O’Connell at joconnell@northandoverma.gov. THANK YOU!