To begin reducing waste, we removed all of the garbage pails from each classroom every Thursday, and instead only used one central garbage for the entire school. This reduced our waste from six garbage bags to one. We also made every Friday "Food Waste-Free Friday". Everyone in the school was challenged to bring a garbage-free lunch and "eat what you bring". This really helped staff and students to reduce our waste.

The biggest success of our school this year, however, was the creation of our composting program. We now use a composter for fruit and vegetable leftovers that would have otherwise gone in the garbage. Overall, this year was a very successful year for waste reduction at our school. Next year we hope to tackle another aspect of the Greenstar! model - reducing our school´s ecological footprint.

Poem for the Earth:

"-By Grade seven student"

Why is it always the question we ask,
When we want to complete that one little task of changing our earth,
And changing our past. This is what I have come to tell you class.

We all want to be different, we all want to change and make our hearts
And souls re-arrange to the way things used to be – peaceful and glad,
But before you know it everything will be bad.

Do we all help, do we all try,
Or do we all lay back and just cry?
I know you´re scared, I am too,
But there is still time to things to do.

Don´t lay back, just take a stand,
And stay together hand in hand,
To demolish the gases and save the trees, save the oceans and save the seas.

Our life will be different, our life will be great. If you want this now,
Then step up to the plate. We all need you, every single one.
Unless no one helps, there soon will be none.

But we Crofties, we always keep our word. Well, at least that´s what I´ve heard.
We can do this class, we can do it together
And keep our earth forever and ever!

Laura Magrath