Every Tray Counts (ETC) began working with Durham Public Schools (DPS) in November 2013. At that time, ETC, working with other community members, had successfully used a waste audit system to show that moving toward sustainability in Chapel Hill/ Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) was financially feasible. CHCCS had hired a Sustainability Coordinator who was committed to introducing food waste composting and compostable trays into the school system.
Several parents and teachers asked us to come to DPS to try to repeat this success. We quickly found a partner school with E.K.Powe Elementary School on Ninth St. Michael Somers, the principal, joined Melanie Middleton, Melissa Smart, Bobby Hartman, Susan Budziszewski, Sarah Meyer and others to allow lunch room and dumpster audits to go forward. These audits, performed by parents and community members, clearly showed that there was away forward. Don’t Waste Durham (DWD) and Keep Durham Beautiful (KDB), and other community groups in Durham also committed to these issues, joined us and together we proved that there was a financial and environmental model that could work in Durham. By the end of the 2013-2014 school year, this idea had many advocates in the community.
Differences in the systems at DPS and CHCCS soon became apparent and would need careful consideration to be certain that savings in the area of waste collection could be utilized for costs related to composting. Financial analysis and the need for thorough training to implement the system in other schools led DPS to recommend continuing the E.K. Powe pilot for another year in the most economical way prior to expanding the program to other DPS schools. Also, DPS had decided to hire a Sustainability Coordinator, as CHCCS had, and wanted that person to lead the way on this issue. Overriding issues with introducing sustainability into a school system will always be financial viability and implementation. While there are many programs that have proven that food waste composting and using compostable products will save money in the long term, it is understandable that there needs to be measurable points during the process to show increasing financial and organizational improvements.
In our first year pilot at Powe, we relied on the donations and volunteerism of many people, groups and businesses, including, DWD, KDB, Brooks Composting, the staff of the Food and Nutrition Department of DPS, the custodial staff at Powe, and the DPS Maintenance Dept., as well as ETC. The issue of continuing the pilot raised the question of who would fund it. James Keaten, the Executive Director of the Department of School Nutrition Services for Durham Public Schools, stepped up and agreed that DPS would pay the difference between the polystyrene and compostable trays. For him, a full year pilot at Powe was important to further examine the financial implications of rolling out a district-wide effort. A neighboring restaurant, Oval Park Grille, became a hero, and donated the money that was necessary to continue food waste pick-up by Brooks Composting. This was our first effort in establishing a public/ private partnership between a school and a business. The owners of Oval Park Grille ( Joe and Emily Kahn, Greg DeMarchi, and Todd Whitney) not only donated money, they came to meetings and reinforced their commitment to this idea. They became true partners with E.K.Powe and ETC, and have expressed willingness to speak to other businesses about the importance of this model.
Every effort of this kind needs many heroes, big and small. Each person can contribute according to their time and resources. There are way too many to name, but I would like to mention some who have helped move ETC forward in Durham in a special way. Some of them are: Crystal of DWD was super supportive of Every Tray Counts from the beginning. She very quickly included ETC in the DWD meetings, and allowed us to spread the word far faster than we could have on our own. DWD also invited ETC to join them at their booth on Earth Day Durham 2014. What a great time! In order to publicize the tray effort, we enlisted the help of an artist, Bryant Holsenbeck, who graciously made a polystyrene snake that drew a lot of attention to our booth. Our effort that day would not have been as successful without her fabulous snake! Tania of KDB, Chrissie made a great Power Point, Tobin helped with fabulous pointers on yet another PP, and Mike Shiflett always was there to lend a hand when necessary. Then there is Noah, Jeff, Megan and on and on… what a great community!