Hermosa Beach About Town
Students at Our Lady of Guadalupe School educate their peers about how to reduce waste at lunchtime. Photo by Rita Barreiro
‘Trash free’ lunch at OLG school
Hermosa’s Our Lady of Guadalupe School has been selected as a finalist in the Grades of Green program’s Trash Free Lunch Challenge. The contest pitted elementary and middle schools in Southern California in a contest to reduce lunch-hour waste that would otherwise end up in landfills. Our Lady of Guadalupe joins Charles Helmer Elementary School and Victor Elementary in Torrance as finalists in the elementary school category. Entrants diverted an estimated 463 tons of waste from local landfills, according to a statement from Grades of Green.
Grades of Green is a nonprofit focused on encouraging students and parents to aid the environment. The trash free lunch program was sponsored by Northrop Grumman, the Surfrider Foundation, and the Los Angeles County Sanitation District. Officials there said that it is part of an effort to inculcate sustainable habits that students will carry throughout their lives.
“The goal of the Trash Free Lunch Challenge is not only to reduce waste but to teach children how to reuse, recycle and compost. Educating students through programs such as these furthers our mission of converting waste into resources in the communities we serve,” said Grace Robinson Hyde, chief engineer and general manager for the county sanitation district.