We’re thinking of this as a holistic, district-wide program so as the student moves through the school system, they’re met with the same bin infrastructure and signage.”

Eva Touhey, WasteNaut Consulting

PORTSMOUTH — A half-eaten sandwich or an empty juice box will no longer be headed to the state landfill under a revamped school lunchroom trash sorting program that hopes to reach all district students.

At last week’s School Committee meeting, Eva Touhey of WasteNaut Consulting presented figures to show just how important a revived composting and recycling effort in the town’s four schools is for the environment.

Touhey used to be program director for Clean Ocean Access (COA), the environmental group that had started a similar program in the schools before it was interrupted by COVID in 2020. COA dissolved in early 2024, but Touhey started up WasteNaut Consulting only two months later and worked with local students on a lunchroom sorting program this past academic year.

So far, more than 2,000 students have been educated through the lunchroom sustainability program, which includes grades 2-4 at Hathaway Elementary, grades 1-4 at Melville Elementary, grades 5 and 6 at the middle school, as well as the high school. Other grade levels will be incorporated into the program in the future, Touhey said.

Under the program, a sorting system has been set up in each school’s lunchroom with separate bins for leftover liquids; recyclables such as plastic bottles and cups, clean plastic containers, cartons, aluminum cans and foil, glass bottles, and paper products; and compostable items including all forms of food scraps, brown napkins, utensils and other certified compostable products. 

There is also a table or space for compostable trays. “With this program all the schools use compostable trays in the lunch room, except for the high school which uses reusable trays because they have a dishwasher,” Touhey said.

The rest — plastic straws, Styrofoam, drink pouches, dirty food containers, food wrappers, fruit stickers and snack bags — go to the landfill.

“We’re thinking of this as a holistic, district-wide program so as the student moves through the school system, they’re met with the same bin infrastructure and signage,” Touhey said.

Before they started sorting, of course, Touhey’s crew educated students on the “why” — which is simple, she said.

“It’s about the importance of diverting waste from our central landfill,” she said. “In Rhode Island it’s scheduled to close by 2046, and currently there are 100,000 tons of food scraps that enter the landfill every year. So, schools can have a massive impact on reducing, as you can see just from this year, the amount of food that’s entering our landfill.”

Tougher sell with higher grades

So far, participation in the program has been higher in the lower grades, as older students are often embarrassed to be seen sorting at the bins, Touhey said.

“Melville and Hathaway consistently achieve 85 percent or higher daily diversion rate of their cafeteria waste, which is impressive,” she said. 

Students at Melville, in fact, diverted 94 percent of their luncheon waste from the landfill in mid-May, while Hathaway hit 90 percent in February. 

“At the elementary level, it’s just part of their lunchroom experience. It’s very self-sufficient and pretty amazing when you can watch a first-grader, second-grader just go through this motion and not have a question,” she said.

According to Black Earth Compost, the company that takes away the schools’ compost materials, the four schools diverted a total of 46,440 pounds of compost over the course of the last school year. The middle school (16,200 pounds) and Melville (14,940 pounds) led the way.

Although the program started off strong at the high school, enthusiasm fell off as the year progressed, said Touhey, who will be meeting with PHS Principal Jeffrey Heath to discuss a plan for re-engaging with students next year.

Athletes recognized

In other business last week, the committee recognized several PHS athletes for their outstanding achievements during the spring season:

• Sean Gray, the boys’ 3,000-meter Rhode Island champion in outdoor track and field

• The PHS golf team, Division II state champions

• The PHS boys’ lacrosse team, Division II state champions

Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy also gave a shoutout to the PHS sailing team that won the equivalent of its state championship, but members could not make the meeting. Those athletes will be formally recognized in August, he said.

Pre-Labor Day start

Kenworthy announced that the 2025-26 school year will start before Labor Day, which falls on Monday, Sept. 1.

A full-day orientation for students in kindergarten, and grades 5 and 9 will be on Wednesday, Aug. 27. They and the remaining students will report to school on Thursday, Aug. 28.

Next meeting

The School Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 26.