Sinsheimer Elementary
Sinsheimer Elementary has been composting for about 10 years now. The third grade classes rotate the responsibility of maintaining, collecting and composting food waste in macro bins that have been converted into worm bins. The students participate in the IWMA Vermicomposting program as an introduction, then are trained to be “worminators.” They collect food waste daily from both the salad bar and student lunch waste, chop up food scraps, and bury them twice a week. Christy Gullo and Annie Wallorinta believe that keeping the job simple and perceived as important helps the success of their program. They also feel that the vermicomposting education program fits in perfectly before they start the worminator jobs. Sinsheimer Elementary diverts food waste from going into the landfill, and they use the finished compost in their school garden, occasionally sending some home with lucky Sinsheimer families.