Seven Hills Students Conduct Waste Audit

How much trash do you make every day?

Middle School students are asking this question of themselves, their peers, and school faculty, as they conduct a waste audit of all the classroom material that is disposed of in our Middle School building.

The Waste Audit, which began Monday (Oct. 19), will continue throughout the week. At the end of each day, all trash will be collected and all recycling will be collected from waste/recycling bins in the building, excluding the bathrooms. Students will then sort and weigh the items, which will lead to informed discussion, said seventh grade science teacher Jocelyn Coulter.

“The students will collect, sort, and weigh the items in order to get a bigger picture of what we use and how we choose to dispose of it. They will create tables and graphs for recording their data and communicating their findings,” said Coulter. “Ultimately, what is done with this information will be up to the students to decide. As a part of our study of conservation and climate change, we are learning to take action, rather than react to the “doom and gloom” perspectives that are often pervasive when educating about the state of our world and the future to come.”

The Middle School waste audit is part of a larger initiative launched by Seven Hills’ Upper School Sustainability Team, led by Seven Hills senior Matthew Marquardt. The survey asks students and faculty a number of questions about their perception, knowledge, and habits regarding disposing of waste products.