Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

On most backpacking packs there are two pockets located on the belt that goes across the hiker's hips. Most of my friends preserve this precious space for snacks and their phone so they can take photos. However, I forfeit half of my pocket space to carry a plastic bag in my belt strap. Many of my hiking buddies are perplexed by this decision. However, the reasoning behind my quirk comes into perspective when we eventually run into trash on the trail.

Each time we discover a piece of trash I whip out my handy bag and start the collection of litter that accumulates during every trip I take. I place the trash in the bag and when it becomes too full for my pocket, I hook it onto my backpack. It's always disappointing to find litter in the mountains which should be pristine, but our trash problem is not limited to just the trail. Humanity's carelessness can be seen at our highest peaks high in the rising amounts of litter in Mt. Everest and low in our rising landfills underground.

Wherever I go, my goal is to leave places better than I found them. When I'm on the trail, I exercise this philosophy by carrying a plastic bag. At the beginning of 2022 I wanted to find a way I could apply the philosophy to my school, Freeman High School, and I found my answer in the trash. My friends and I realized that our cafeteria created pounds of compostable waste a day, so we wanted to start a system that would compost this material into fertile dirt that gardeners in our area could use.

The first step to establishing the composting system was locating a place where we could put the food we collected. We coordinated with the local public works officer and found a facility that could take our compost. The setup we donated our compost to allows domestic farmers to take fertile dirt for free. This means, not only does the system cut down on the waste our school produces but it also helps gardeners in our area. The system allows farmers to use fertile soil that's sustainably sourced and local.

As it's located in a rural area the facility we use for composting is only able to process plant materials so if anything else gets in the compost it's contaminated and ruined. In short, one misinformed or clumsy high schooler can ruin an entire day's compost with a carton of milk. Because of the facilities limitations it was imperative we found a way to effectively communicate to the student body what materials were compostable and why composting was important.

The first element of communicating with the student body was presenting the composting to each of the home rooms. My school is located in a farming community so we were sure to mention the system's effect on gardeners as it gave students something they can relate to. We also posted signs in the hallways with guidelines around composting.

Even with all these efforts we still had to sit by the compost for two months to teach the student body about the new system. In this two-month period "She's a vegan '' became a quick and easy way to specify what material went into the compost system. The slogan caught on so quickly we displayed a large poster with "she's a vegan '' painted on it to replace the team members at the end of the two months we oversaw the system. (See photo) The student body was the last major hurdle to our system, and it has been running smoothly ever since.

Every Friday I load the week's compost in my car to take to the processing facility and I'm astounded by how many pounds of waste we keep from the landfill each week. All around the world landfills are filling up and my school composting system won't fix that but does give my community an opportunity to recuse waste while helping local gardens.

One school alone will never stop the world waste problem, but my school's composting is a start. It gives my school an opportunity to cut pounds of waste each day. It provides the farmers in our community a chance to participate in my school's community while making a stubble impact. Most importantly the system teaches high schoolers how to compost and how it affects the world around them. Then these young minds can carry that knowledge into the later years in their life.

This project certainly taught me the importance of sustainability as I want to continue my work with waste reduction in a career in environmental engineering. In the future I hope to upscale my environmental impact from a single school's cafeteria to cities around the world. Starting this project has cemented my philosophy of leaving places better than I found them and I am excited to carry this mindset into the rest of my life.