Boulder Valley School District

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Ghita Carroll

Sustainability and Energy Officer
Coordinator, Sustainability

Zero Waste and Green Star Schools

Listen to BVSD's Sustainability Coordinator Ghita Carroll and Food Services Volunteer Coordinator Mary Rochelle discuss BVSD's food waste reduction efforts. 

BVSD contracts with local company Eco-Cycle​ to provide waste reduction education programming in all schools as well as collection of recyclable and compostable materials. 

Eco-Cycle also supports the Green Star Program in 38 BVSD schools. Green Star Schools strive toward zero waste by implementing composting school-wide, increasing recycling efforts, hosting special events around waste reduction and implementing other waste reduction activities in the schools. According to Eco-Cycle, “Green Star Schools are the first in the nation to reduce waste in every aspect of school life. As a result of implementing the program, up to two-thirds of the discards from each Green Star School is kept out of landfills.” 

Food Services also has taken great measures to reduce waste. According to Eco-Cycle, participation and enthusiasm for these programs has grown over the past several years. Eco-Cycle believes the amount of recycling collected has decreased because schools are decreasing paper use, and doing a better job of reuse. Composting continues to increase as we add composting programming and collections through the Green Star School program.​

BVSD Education Center is also working toward zero waste and is a Green Star facility. For questions on creating a zero waste event, email BVSD Sustainability Coordinator Ghita Carroll @ ghita.carroll@bvsd.org.


Check out Ecocyle's Green Star Schools webpage.

GREEN STAR SCHOOLS ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020

READ ABOUT A COUPLE OF BVSD'S GREEN STAR CUSTODIANS IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF GREEN STAR NEWS

Download Posters

Bilingual Recycling Guidelines Poster for Schools (8x11, 11x17)

Bilingual Landfill Guidelines Poster for Schools (8x11, 11x17)

Bilingual Composting Guidelines Poster for Green Star Schools (8x11, 11x17)

​Recycling Contaminants Dirty Dozen Poster

BVSD's Green Star Schools

Alicia Sanchez International School
Arapahoe Campus
Bear Creek Elementary
Boulder Community School for Integrated Studies (BCSIS)
Casey Middle School
Centennial Middle School​​
Coal Creek Elementary School​
Columbine Elementary
Community Montessori
Creekside Elementary
Crest View Elementary
Douglass Elementary 
Eisenhower Elementary
Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer​
Fireside Elementary
Flatirons Elementary
Foothill Elementary
Gold Hill Elementary School​​​​

Heatherwood Elementary
High Peaks Elementary
Horizons K-8 School
Jamestown Elementary
Lafayette Elementary School 
Louisville Elementary
Louisville Middle School
Manhattan School of Arts and Academics
Mapleton Early Childhood Center
Mesa Elementary
Monarch K-8
Nederland Elementary
New Vista High School
Platt Middle School
Ryan Elementary School 
Southern Hills Middle School 
Summit Middle School
University Hill Elementary School
Whittier Elementary ​