SAN MARCOS — A fifth-grade class at San Marcos Elementary School is being honored for implementing a waste diversion program to reduce their school’s contribution to the landfill, the first of its kind in the city.
Students in Melissa Cuevas’s class kicked off the program earlier this year, collaborating with the environmental education organization BCK Programs, the school’s operations and maintenance team, and the San Marcos Unified School District.
San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones and Deputy Mayor Mike Sannella visited the campus to see the students’ work in action. On April 22, the San Marcos City Council issued a proclamation honoring the students for their outstanding work.
The class began by collaborating with BCK Programs to learn about the methane gas produced by landfills and its environmental impact. They also analyzed the various types of waste and their disposal methods, including which materials can be diverted to recycling or composting.
“Our class learned how to do a professional audit, and we put every piece of waste in different categories,” student Damien Martinez said at the council meeting.
After conducting the audit, which included assessing 182 pounds of the school’s lunchtime trash, students found that only 10 pounds of it should be sent to the landfill, while the rest could be sorted into recycling or compost.
A large portion of the school’s waste consisted of food that could be diverted to the compost bin, milk cartons that could be recycled, and unused ketchup packets, students said.
“This data showed us that if we sorted waste the right way, we could reduce our landfill waste by around 90% at lunch time,” student Jalene Lopez said.
To reduce their waste, the students collaborated with BCK to set up a sorting station in the lunch area, featuring separate bins for trash, recycling, and compost. They also set up posters indicating what items go in each bin, and convinced the school district to provide a ketchup dispenser to replace the packets.
The fifth graders also taught other classes how to use the new system, including presenting in classrooms and making a video.
Principal Christine Griley said it was great to see students feeling empowered to be leaders and make a difference in the community.
“They have really taken on these leadership positions to be role models to teach our students how to sort and recycle,” Griley said. “It’s just been really lovely to see them bloom as leaders.”
With the new waste sorting system, San Marcos Elementary is on track to divert around 31,000 pounds of waste from the landfill each year.
This is the first program of its kind in the city of San Marcos, and Cuevas and her students hope to see it replicated at other schools.
The student “green team” hopes to continue their work with other initiatives, including composting in the school’s garden, a campaign to keep the school clean, and working with nutrition services to provide food with less packaging, Cuevas said. As a community school, they also hope to get the wider community involved in their efforts.
“I’m so proud of these students. They are so brave, they really believe in what we’ve been working on, and they’re passionate about it,” Cuevas said.
The Rob Machado Foundation, an environmental nonprofit led by surfer Rob Machado, donated reusable water bottles for the students to recognize their work. The students also named Machado and his foundation as honorary members of the Green Team.
