Graduation is just around the corner for Winnie Lee and Ivy Nguyen, but the two Williams Lake students are looking to make a change before they go.  

Nguyen and Lee are setting up a waste management program in their high school, Lake City Secondary School (LCSS), for their capstone project, a requirement for graduation.  

鈥淚 feel like there are many people in the school who, like me, feel bad just throwing everything into the garbage bin,鈥� said Nguyen.  

She and Lee teamed up at the start of the school year to solve that problem and are doing so under the mentorship of Oliver Berger and Mary Forbes from the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society (CCCS).  

鈥淲e鈥檙e just showing them what it鈥檚 like to work in the waste world, and then they can observe and build their program based on what they think would work best for the students,鈥� Berger told the Tribune.  

The inspiration

As grade 12 students across British Columbia plan for their life after high school, they are encouraged to discover and showcase what they can offer to the world by taking on a passion project. Known as a capstone project, it involves setting goals, working with a mentor, documenting one鈥檚 progress and presenting the journey to a relevant audience. 

Nguyen and Lee were inspired to set up a waste management program for their capstone when the vice-principal, Nara Riplinger, told students there were resources available to get something like it going.  

鈥淲e have almost 900 people at the school every day, and people generate a lot of waste,鈥� Riplinger told the Tribune.  

Riplinger used to teach at Columneetza Junior Secondary School, where she and other teachers had once set up a club for students to bring them closer to nature and foster an interest to improve the school鈥檚 waste management. They called themselves the Greenologists. 

鈥淚t was something I wanted to continue on here,鈥� she said, explaining that while elementary schools do a great job of training kids on how to separate their waste, there needs to be a good system set up to manage waste as students move on to high school.   

And since only waste bins are accounted for in a janitor's role, it鈥檚 up to students and teachers to implement and manage recycling and compost.

Change is hard, Riplinger said, but she praised Lee and Nguyen for their thoughtful approach to the task as they look for ways to make the transition easy for students and staff.  

Learning the ropes at the Medieval Market

Nguyen and Lee have joined their mentors during different 鈥榳aste wise鈥� events to learn the ropes. They helped educate, monitor and problem-solve around all the waste created during School District 27鈥檚 Orange Shirt Day event in September, and during the annual Medieval Market in November. They also joined the CCCS on an audit of curb-side bins in the city.  

鈥淚 learned how to communicate with the people,鈥� Nguyen said about her experience during the audit. 鈥淲e actually talked to a lot of people that day about how they recycle stuff 鈥� they didn鈥檛 really know what to put in and what not to put in, so that was a lesson we took that day.鈥� 

They also learned about black holes. Not the ones found in space, but the ones out in public, and in our very own homes: waste bins.  

鈥淭hey suck in everything,鈥� Oliver said. To avoid marketgoers developing the habit of just throwing anything out in those 鈥榖lack holes,鈥� they made it so there were only two garbage stations during the Medieval Market, which they would monitor for contamination. Thanks to their work, the team was able to divert at least 80 per cent of the waste created at the market, meaning things which can be recycled or composted didn鈥檛 end up in the landfill.  

What's in LCSS waste bins?

These experiences have enabled the students to take on the challenge at their school. In November, Lee and Nguyen conducted their own waste audit at LCSS, asking janitors not to empty bins for a week so they could see what鈥檚 being thrown out. They gathered a team of students and sorted through the waste, determining what is commonly found in the garbage bins and what adjustments they could make in their school to divert some of that waste.  

Their audit found that food waste which could have been avoided accounted for the greatest amount of garbage at 1.4 kg, or 21 per cent. Followed close behind was paper towel amounting to 17 per cent, metal cans at 12 per cent and paper coffee cups at six per cent.  

Nguyen and Lee are now looking to chat with the janitors and see if they can reduce the number of waste bins in the school and set up satellite stations in classrooms.  

Recently, a bin specific for pizza boxes was added which Riplinger said seems to be catching on. Lee said they've acquired the equipment needed to set up stations, and have partnered with the Williams Lake Association for Community Living to pick up the recycling. Students are in charge of taking the compost out weekly. 

鈥淲e are hoping to have a well working system by the end of January,鈥� Lee told the Tribune.  

But the work doesn鈥檛 end there. Nguyen and Lee are expecting to do a bit of educating, as not everyone is always aware of how to sort their waste.  

They are also hoping their efforts will be picked up by other students and a club formed so their system can live on past graduation.