The Zero Waste Schools (ZWS) program has had a busy fall working with numerous school districts across the Chicagoland area to help move composting, recycling, and other waste reduction initiatives forward. Recently, the ZWS team has been everywhere from lunchrooms to baseball fields with the goal of providing education and increasing waste reduction practices.
On September 18, the Illinois Farm to School Network hosted an Apple Crunch event at Wrigley Field. ZWS staff helped attendees compost their apple cores after everyone learned about local apples, including hearing from a local orchard, and crunched into their apples together. The Apple Crunch at Wrigley is a good example of how zero waste practices can be incorporated into any school activity or event. 
Across town, ZWS has been able to provide assistance in setting up lunchroom recycling and commercial composting at schools in Bellwood, Broadview, and Maywood with help from a USDA grant. Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Bellwood School District 88, Roosevelt Elementary in School District 89, and E.F. Lindop School in School District 92 have all started offering share tables, recycling, and composting in their lunchrooms and kitchens. The ZWS team’s work in District 88 also includes providing training for all food service staff on share tables and Offer vs. Serve implementation, which will further enable the district to reduce food waste. Our partnership with these communities includes working with organics haulers, food service providers, and school staff to ensure all stakeholders are involved in order to ensure long term sustainability.
The ZWS program is also continuing its partnership with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to prevent and divert wasted food in the lunchroom by providing on the ground support and educational resources to schools. This school year ZWS has already launched the Zero Waste Schools program in New Field Primary Elementary School in Roger’s Park. Through composting and promoting share tables within the lunchroom, students and food service staff are now diverting an average of 88% of materials from the landfill. The ZWS team has also met with a number of other CPS schools to share how they can get started with the program.
The ZWS program has made significant strides this fall through our work with schools in Chicago, Bellwood, Broadview, Maywood, and other school communities across the Chicagoland area. Our team is excited to continue to roll out the program in schools throughout these communities and to create resources that all schools can benefit from no matter their location or where they are on their zero waste journey.