“I wish we could do this food separating everyday – it was easy,” remarked a student as they stood in front of a long row of 5-gallon buckets filled to the brim with uneaten food from lunch. While the students’ can-do spirit made the task look easy, they were hard at work collecting valuable data […]
Going for Zero Waste at School: Tips and...
Speakers sharing tips at the “Going for Zero Waste at School” webinar For many schools, going for zero waste may seem daunting. But the Zero Waste Schools (ZWS) program at Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) makes this big goal more achievable. In their recent webinar “Going for Zero Waste at School,” Program Manager, Susan Casey, ZWS […]
CPS Partners with SGA on Zero Waste Goal...
Chicago – Chicago Public Schools has taken another step towards its goal of diverting 80% of its waste from landfills with its upcoming launch of a CPS Commercial Composting and Recycling Program at Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center on the city’s north side. Part of the CPS Zero Waste program, in collaboration with nonprofit Seven Generations Ahead (SGA), […]
Getting Back on Track with Zero Waste
Determined to overcome pandemic challenges and interruptions, schools in SGA’s Zero Waste Schools-Lake County Program have made it a priority to get their zero waste lunchrooms back up and running. The Zero Waste Schools team at SGA created a 15-minute education video to teach/re-teach students the How & Why of going for zero waste to […]
Toolkit Helps Schools Reduce Food Waste
Greta Kringle, a chemistry and environmental science teacher at Solorio Academy High School, a Chicago Public School, makes sure her students learn more about waste than they probably ever wanted to know. Her goal is to make science relevant to her students’ everyday lives, and when she gets to the unit on food waste, the […]
SGA webinar makes the case for reusable ...
SGA’s Zero Waste Schools program hosted more than 90 attendees from around the country for its March 16 webinar, School cafeterias reimagined: The case for reusable foodware. The webinar was designed to help schools envision how they can create a better dining experience while protecting student health, cutting costs, and reducing waste by switching to […]
Solorio students host Pumpkin Smash
Leading the way to increased composting awareness in Chicago, the Zero Waste Team from Solorio High School coordinated a Pumpkin Smash for their Gage Park community on Nov. 7. Typically held the Saturday after Halloween, these events provide communities the opportunity to drop off their pumpkins for composting instead of landfilling them. Composting is not […]
SGA webinar helps schools adapt zero was...
Despite the challenges, school leaders across the country are figuring out ways to adapt their zero waste strategies for school year 20-21, and some are even using the disruption caused by the pandemic to establish better, more sustainable ways of doing things. This was the big take-away from SGA’s webinar Zero Waste School Practices During […]
‘Microplastic Madness’ film screening in
In honor of Plastic Free July last month, SGA hosted a screening of the award-winning film “Microplastic Madness” followed by a panel discussion with the film’s co-directors, Debby Lee Cohen and Atsuko Quirk from Cafeteria Culture, and Andrea Densham, Conservation Policy Director at the Shedd Aquarium. Our goal was to share the film’s inspiring youth-focused […]
Oak Park River Forest High School takes ...
In the school movement to reduce landfill waste, Oak Park River Forest High School (OPRFHS) took a major step on Feb. 24. On that day, the school launched its zero waste program, marking a new way of doing things in its two cafeterias. This means that students now use sorting station bins for recycling and […]