Suffield High School’s Sustainability Council (SSC) is continuing its efforts to make positive environmental changes in our community. After over three years of hard work, the SSC has attained the resources to implement composting into Suffield High School (SHS). In partnership with Blue Earth, a local commercial composting company and certified B Corp, SHS is on track to begin composting in its cafeteria by early December. This means that all SHS food waste will not only be diverted from the waste stream and converted into compost fertilizer to better enrich soil, but also used to create biogas, a renewable energy fuel used to create electricity. Food waste is a giant issue in the US, and as methane (the gas released from food breakdown) is roughly 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2 and constitutes a major contributor to climate change. By committing to composting, SHS is teaching our students that solutions to major issues are within their reach. This project has become successful due to the long and exhausting hours that Cecilia Partain, a current senior at SHS and SSC member, and Isabella Hinkle, a 2022 graduate, put into this effort of repurposing SHS food waste.
The Suffield Sustainability Council is not stopping at composting. They are also working towards making SHS a part of the Green Leaf School program. The Green Leaf School initiative is a program dedicated to providing effective environmental and sustainability education by empowering students and staff to make school campuses more “green.” It all starts with an audit of the school and is followed up by recommending improvements and helpful aid to make it so. There are currently 145 Green Leaf Schools across Connecticut, and more information can be found at https://www.coeea.org/ct-green-leaf-schools. The SSC is determined to make environmental education permanent within SHS, as students are the stewards of the future and will be the ones to bring forth change.
These projects are only some of the efforts the Suffield Sustainability Council is taking to make Suffield greener, so stay tuned for future updates!