An Update From Your Favorite Board

By The Sustainability Board

As part of our efforts to make the campus more environmentally friendly this year, we came up with a number of sustainable initiatives to implement on Milton Academy’s Campus. Chargers for electric vehicles for Milton student drivers (much like the ones behind school at facilities), a greenhouse project, and a new and innovative way to compost—these are just some of the ideas we have planned for the year.  Our goal—like every other year—is not only to drive the harmful effects of an unsustainable environment down, but we also want to facilitate a more sustainable mindset through educating students. We hope that these projects listed above will vastly encourage greener practices at Milton. Our electric vehicles project has been approved and passed, and we aim to install these chargers within the next few months, ultimately producing zero tail-pipe emissions. The greenhouse project, too, aims to promote sustainable practices by creating a designated, controlled microclimate in which Milton can grow its own food, sparking a process that fosters sustainable agricultural farming. Because greenhouses can constantly and consistently stay warm, both food and plants can grow all year long. Additionally, greenhouses enable the possibility of out of class learning; students have access to hands-on learning. We are currently in the process of researching the logistics and benefits of building one, and though this project will most likely not be approved until next year, we believe that it will preserve the agricultural ecosystem around our Milton community. 

Perhaps the most important goal we have for this year is the implementation and improvement of composting. Despite the data not reflecting the entire school year, the graph above shows the current percentage of waste that goes towards composting. Of all the waste that  Milton Academy produces, 76.63% goes towards the landfill, 1.54% goes to compost, 2.32% goes towards textile diversion (the bin is at facilities!), and 19.5% towards recycling. These numbers, though only a reflection of the school year up until now, show a decrease in compost and an increase in landfill. Last year, 10.82% of our total waste stream produced went to composting while this year, we have composted a total of zero tons. Thus, our current composting system is not working. As you may have noticed, we have recently had members of our board standing in the recycling, composting, and landfill bin area in hopes of expediting this process and making it easier to follow. No, ice cream cones do not belong in the recycling bin, and yes, both the cups and the napkins can be composted. We urge you to take a quick second the next time you encounter these bins in Forbes; it is a simple task that everyone can achieve and that can make a huge impact on the amount of waste we as a community generate. By the end of this year, we hope to not only increase our recycling, textiles, and composting percentages but also to surpass the percentages of the past four years.