Compost Workshop

by Desi Bartos

The 7th and 8th grade had a workshop focusing on composting. Lower School Teachers Aimee and Marie Tere came in and talked to us about what happens after we throw away our garbage. They taught us about how all of the stuff that we through “away” ends up in a landfill, which is a huge hole in the ground where they dump garbage. Before they put in the garbage they put in a layer of clay then they put a layer of plastic after that they put a layer of dirt and on top of that is where they dump the garbage until the landfill is filled. Once filled they want to make it seem like it was never there so they put on another layer of dirt then they lay down some seeds. Most of the time they are grass seeds so that once the grass grows the whole landfill just looks like a beautiful grassy hill. But underneath is trash that will never decompose. 

A garbage truck delivers trash to our class "landfill"

They create landfills that do not let trash decompose because when some products decompose, such as plastic, it takes thousands of years and releases harmful gasses and liquids. One gas is methane, which is bad for the ozone layer.

One way in which we can lessen the amount of trash in landfills is by composting. At the workshop we did an activity where we learned how worms have their own way of composting. Worms eat leftover food and turn it into rich vermicompost that is good for gardening. The 7-8s have a worm bin in their classroom and MCS sends all of their food scraps and paper goods out to be composted at an industrial compost center. We finished the workshop more inspired to do our part in composting what we can.  

7th Graders sort worms from rich vermicompost