By Kayla Chavier
Staff Writer

On January 5th, the Westford Academy cafeteria brought in the new year by implementing a compost system in the kitchen.  Led by Laurie Scaplen, manager of the cafeteria, and the environmental club, the composting program will be introduced to students for the next school year.

“The hope is to introduce composting to students by August [2015]. We’ve [now] gotten the permission to move forward with that but we don’t know how it’s going to work,” says Chris Connole, one of the advisors of the environmental club.

Several Westford schools, including Crisafulli and Blanchard, have already introduced composting to students.  In the beginning stages of the program at WA, the composting process will be modeled after what strategies were successful in these other schools.

“I spoke to Gayle Powers at Crisafulli and she said it has been a very smooth process,” said Scaplen. “Our Head Custodian, Tom Griffin, came from the Crisafulli school last year, and Ellen Harde [from the Westford Recycling Commission] said he was excellent in complying and helping to implement the composting process there.”

Throughout the week of January 5th, the cafeteria staff has been gathering composting bins, checking regulations with the Westford Board of Heath, and learning successful tactics from other schools.  Although the environmental club is still in the beginning stages of preparing for next year, there are several aspects of the initiative that are already in place.

Composting is expected to not have any cost to the school. Bins, each capable of holding 10 gallons, will be donated to the cafeteria. By composting, the school will pay less for transporting trash, and the money saved will fund the purchase of liners for the compost bins.   The Westford Recycling Commission will collect bins on Wednesday and Friday and transport them to a pig farm in the area.

The week of January 5th was the first successful week of composting.  On Monday, kitchen staff began collecting compost and a total of 60 gallons was collected over the course of the week.  Staff will also measure the tonnage each week to track the amount of composted materials.

From now until the end of the year, the kitchen will continue to collect compost and determine how to successfully implement the program for students.

Scaplen commented, “I look forward to implementing the program and stepping into the green initiative.”