Students petition Charlottesville schools for consistent recycling and composting programs

Everest Kuster, a recent Charlottesville High School graduate and former president of the Green Team Alliance, presented a petition signed by 285 students, staff, parents and local organizations asking the Charlottesville and Albamar school divisions to standardize recycling and composting across schools.

Kuster told the board students “have had to sort through moldy food waste, mysterious liquids, and lots of trash” to keep recycling systems running. The petition asks the divisions to adopt paper-and-metal-only recycling, ensure every classroom has a clearly labeled recycling bin, introduce paper-towel composting in bathrooms and food composting during lunch, increase education about correct sorting, and transition day-to-day management to trained and fairly compensated school staff so student clubs can focus on education and advocacy.

Sarah Delgado of the Community Climate Collaborative said students across public and private schools reported inconsistent systems as their top concern and urged the board to coordinate among sustainability staff, school leaders and child nutrition to support practical, division-wide solutions.

Student speakers at the podium recounted time-consuming hands-on work, high contamination rates in recycling bins, and instances when entire recycling loads had to be discarded because of contamination. Reed Crobach, a junior at Community Lab School, asked the board to add the petition to the June 4 agenda for formal discussion.

Board members and staff did not take formal action on the petition during the work session; staff indicated they will follow up with the clerk and suggested placing the item on a future agenda for more detailed consideration, including implementation constraints tied to facilities, procurement, and inter-divisional coordination.

The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled June 4, when staff told members they can present options for how to pilot consistent waste-management practices and outline resource implications.