Dive Brief:
- A state program recently gave Maple Shade a $10,000 Sustainable Jersey grant to start a food recycling project in the township’s school system. The Sustainable Jersey Small Grants Program, backed by PSEG Foundation, is awarding grants for sustainability projects.
- It is awarding $200,000 this year to municipalities for projects. The new food recycling effort will start in the upcoming 2015-2016 school year, said Maple Shade deputy mayor Lou Manchello.
- By recycling food waste from the school system into compost, the program is aimed at lowering the volume of food sent to landfills. The effort also will have an educational aspect, since students will be taught about compostable foods, and will be able to recycle such foods by putting them in special containers at lunchtime.
Dive Insight:
Teaching sustainable living habits to children in school makes sense to encourage recycling. It also could help them feel more vested in such efforts.
"The younger you get to a child, it becomes routine or ingrained in them," Manchello said. "Once you start this kind of practice with the younger kids, I believe they carry it through life."
