Youth of today are trapped in an unrelenting cycle of despair over the climate crisis. On social media, we’re bombarded with images of natural disasters, rising sea levels, and alarming statistics about global warming. It’s a daily reminder of a planet in crisis. As high school students, we feel the weight of this crisis—expected to “save the world,” yet overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. But when we look to extraordinary young activists like Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, we find some hope. Their passion shows us that change, no matter how small it seems, begins when we take action. And for us, that action led straight to our schools’ lunchrooms.

In Sept. 2021, Rhode Island enacted a law requiring most schools to compost food waste from their cafeteria and to donate any unserved, non-perishable, or otherwise unspoiled food to local food pantries. The law applies to schools that produce 30 or more tons of organic-waste material and are within 15 miles from an authorized composting facility. It’s a critical step in addressing the climate crisis, as food waste decomposing in landfills releases significant amounts of methane—a greenhouse gas over 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat. Rhode Island currently buries about 70,000 tons of food each year in Rhode Island’s Central Landfill in Johnston. The landfill is set to be at capacity in 2043, and on average in Rhode Island schools, each elementary school student will produce 47 pounds of food waste each school year, each middle school student 39 pounds, and each high school student 15.6 pounds. With many schools exceeding the national average size of 526 students, the impact of this waste—and its contribution to climate change—is staggering.

The law mandates that schools implement composting programs by 2025, but progress has been lackluster. Why? Because no funding accompanies the mandate, leaving many schools without the resources to comply. Administrators cite budget constraints, staff shortages, and competing priorities as barriers.

Yet, rather than focus on excuses, we choose to see the immense potential of passionate students and staff who did support our efforts these past few years. From students volunteering to guide peers in sorting waste to teachers crafting innovative curricula around composting, a movement is growing. Inspired by this momentum, we—Bella Quiroa and Emma Pautz—launched the Youth Composting Campaign Initiative to harness this energy and advocate for sustainable change statewide.

We began by surveying schools across Rhode Island. We received responses representing 88 different schools from teachers, teacher assistants and principals. We discovered only 36.4 percent of participants knew about the composting mandate while only 33 percent worked at a school with an active composting program. Of those with composting programs, 31 percent described it as “somewhat strong,” and an alarming 13.8 percent described theirs as “not strong at all”. These results are what fueled our efforts going into the Summer, and new school year. We knew that, although our grassroots efforts were incredibly important, fixing the issues with the current policies was what we needed to ensure long term sustainability of these efforts.

In our advocacy journey, we partnered with state legislators, including Representatives Lauren Carson, Jennifer Boylan, and Terri Cortvriend, to transform Rhode Island’s composting law into a more effective tool for combating climate change. Rep. Carson is working to amend the law to apply to all schools, removing restrictive tonnage and mileage requirements that exclude smaller or more remote schools. These limitations drastically reduce the law’s impact by leaving out schools that still produce significant waste and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. By eliminating these barriers, the amended law will ensure greater food diversion across the state.

To tackle the lack of compliance and resources, we connected legislators with the Rhode Island Food Policy Council (RIFPC), an organization we’ve worked closely with throughout this process. RIFPC’s expertise has been instrumental in advancing policies like the Compost Fund, which proposes a needs-based formula to allocate funding for schools and municipalities. This fund would help cover costs for equipment, training, and operational expenses, addressing one of the largest barriers schools face in launching and maintaining composting systems. By making these resources accessible, the Compost Fund ensures that composting is both feasible and sustainable across Rhode Island.

Beyond funding, we’ve also advocated for addressing key structural issues in the law. These include creating a robust oversight and resource system through RIDE and RIRRC, encouraging custodian-led composting systems supported by administrators and students, and ensuring clear, accessible guidance for schools on compliance and available resources. These goals aim to make composting feasible, equitable, and impactful across Rhode Island.

Representative Cortvriend is complementing these efforts by drafting a municipal composting bill to expand access to composting beyond schools, creating community-wide solutions. Together with these legislators and RIFPC, we are laying the groundwork for a statewide environmental responsibility. Through these initiatives, Rhode Island schools and communities will be better equipped to combat the climate crisis.

It is time for Rhode Island to take substantial steps to combat climate change, and composting policies are a critical way to do so—especially when informed by passionate youth activism. As student leaders, we’ve worked to address gaps in current legislation and propose actionable solutions.

We urge you to support the following in the upcoming legislative session:

● Amendments to the Composting Law: Remove tonnage and mileage requirements, include all schools, and provide oversight and resources through RIDE and RIRRC.

● Municipal Composting Bill: Expand composting efforts to municipalities for broader community impact.

● Compost Fund: Allocate funding for schools and municipalities to cover composting equipment, training, and operations.

These policies are vital for addressing food waste and climate change. Please write to committee members and legislators to show your support (for reference, please use the template attached). Together, we can make composting a reality in Rhode Island by 2025, powered by student-driven change.

The Youth Composting Campaign Initiative, Emma Pautz and Bella Quiroa.