Although they are filled with excitement for the recess that awaits after lunch, students at New Albany Intermediate School pause before going outside to toss any leftover food in the compost bin and stack their composable trays. Students take time to determine what is trash and what should be composted, a habit encouraged by the newly established composting program.
Compost has proven benefits for both the environment and the health of humans. According to the US Composting Council, composting cuts down on both trash and greenhouse gasses making it sustainable and green in more than one way. Preventing the rise of greenhouse gas emissions directly impacts people’s health as humans are met with rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns.
Peter Barnes has taught in New Albany-Plain Local Schools for 20 years and has always emphasized the importance of environmental education.
To help combat his school’s carbon footprint, Barnes started a composting program at the Intermediate school. As members of the Sustainability Board at the City of New Albany, Barnes along with Educational Assistant and Math Instructor Laura Gallo were in charge of compost until students volunteered to monitor the stations.
“The biggest thing is just diverting food waste from the landfill,” Barnes says. “Keeping that out of there, we’re reducing greenhouse gasses by not putting that waste in the landfill.”
When the students took charge of the program during the 2023-24 school year, the program diverted almost 10 tons of food, according to Gallo.
Food scraps and paper products are among the items discarded in the compost, which is then taken to the GoZERO facility for processing each week. While the compost process does benefit the environment, there are also many emotional and physical impacts composting has on human health.
Physical health is encouraged through the extra steps students take to monitor and sort the compost bins. Every day, student volunteers schedule time to sort through the compost bins using tongs to ensure proper compost actions have been taken.
Studies conducted by the Pacific College of Health and Science show a correlation between improved human digestion and composting. Compost offers useful nutrients for the soil which then provides better resources for the plants humans ingest.
Barnes has seen some of these benefits firsthand, watching as the general sense of positivity grows among the students engaged with the composting.
“It really makes me happier and more encouraged about the world’s future,” says Annabelle Allen, a 6th grader at New Albany Intermediate. “Just composting our food actually gives a little bit back to the earth and makes me feel a bit better.”
Gallo has experienced similar impacts on both her emotional and physical wellbeing. Her self-image and emotional contentment have improved as a result of helping the environment.
Since becoming a part of the compost program at the Intermediate, Gallo and her husband have incorporated compost and recycling within their personal lives.
“I feel better about myself since I’ve started composting at home,” Gallo says. “I think (my husband and I) both feel better about what we’re doing or not doing. So mental health wise, I think it’s a huge plus.”
Similar to Gallo and the students, Barnes has experienced the benefits of composting within his personal and work life. The positivity that radiates from the volunteers has confirmed for him the significance of this program and its impact on student health.
“We’ve got a lot of good feedback from kids and parents who’ve heard about it,” Barnes says. “We’ve had interest from students and other buildings. …So we’re hoping that we can keep that going especially in connection with the City of New Albany.”
Amber Phipps is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at aphipps@cityscenemediagroup.com.
[KG1]Any info about direct correlation or cause and effect with greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect or global warming?? That’s what this sentence should say.
[KG2]Also keep this with the previous paragraph it’s answering the question you had about what benefits?
