Westmount Elementary students taking waste diversion into their own hands

KAMLOOPS — After a few weeks of collecting, sorting and washing compost and recycling bins, Grade 6 students at Westmount Elementary have become experts at picking out what goes where.

“My mum will be like, ‘How do you know that goes there?’ ‘Cause I know.’ That’s sometimes what I say,” Grade 6 student Faith Bray told CFJC.

Westmount Elementary and Pacific Way Elementary were recently picked to be part of a pilot program with the City of Kamloops for curbside organic waste collection, and Westmount decided to go a little further by also taking charge of their recycling.

Principal Roy Styles had introduced a similar program in his previous work as vice-principal at Arthur Hatton Elementary and says he saw this as an opportunity to bring that eco-minded education to Westmount.

“There are 14 rooms that have full recycling centres and each room has their own recycling centre. We have garbage, compost, flexible plastic and curbside. And so there’s 14 areas where those are,” he says. “And then we have our washrooms because in our washrooms we have paper towel-only garbages.”

After lunch time, students glove up, divide and conquer.

“We all go to the office and people who are on compost, go to the compost, and you go to where your job is,” explains Grade 6 student Lyrik Kaczkowski. “And then at the middle portable you put on gloves and then you sort through what’s plastics, curbside and returnable, and what goes in the wash bin and what’s compost.”

“First time really doing it but I’ve done it at home sometimes,” notes Maddy Conklin, another Grade 6 student tackling the sorting today.

As for what items are collected on a regular basis, students say there’s a lot of lunch- or snack-related pieces hiding in the bins, paper towels and plastic that would have otherwise been thrown in the garbage.

“Sometimes I’ve found plastic bags and stuff in the compost, as well,” shares student Gabby Maki. “I find a lot of sandwiches, which is concerning. People should eat their sandwiches.”

“Peels — like orange peels, banana peels — sandwiches. We find lots of sandwiches,” adds Bella Carlisle.

According to Styles, who oversees the program, it’s a simple way for students to learn about environmental responsibility.

“It doesn’t feel like a chore. They all meet me here at the office right at 1:05. I don’t have to chase them down,” explains Styles. “That is a good feeling and that means they care.”

In just a few weeks, garbage output at the school has also dropped significantly.

“Our garbage alone — I would say we were at about 12-15 bags of garbage a day. Now we’re down to about one or two,” adds Styles.

And to further their community waste diversion, students are taking their knowledge home.

“I’ve been washing out my yogurt containers more at home and I’ve been sorting plastics and soft plastics and stuff like that. And only like, the ‘garbage garbage’ stuff I put in the garbage,” adds Maki.