C.J. Peterson @SFBayCJ
The Las Positas school colors are red, white and black but recently, the campus has gone green.
According to co-presidents of the Student Environmental Alliance, Sara Bandali and Katy Kennedy, Las Positas has added one composting bin in the school cafeteria, offering students an environmentally friendly way to dispose of unwanted food.
The project, streamlined by the S.E.A., has been in the works for the past six months and was officially approved on January 30, 2017.
“I was in class and was eating a banana and I was like ‘I really wish I could compost this,’” said Bandali in reference of how the idea of composting on campus came about.
Las Positas already has one composting bin on the hill behind the “H” lot of student parking, but due to the lack of accessibility, it has been locked and gone unused.
“We knew that on (Las Positas’) website it said that there was composting in place, but no one on campus would be able to utilize it” said Kennedy.
After speaking to Tom Fuller of the horticulture department, the potential of getting composting bins to campus became a legitimate possibility thus getting the ball rolling on the project.
Shortly after, the S.E.A. would begin attending several facility committee meetings and working in collaboration with maintenance on campus.
What was once only a gripe of un-utilized resources turned into a feasible plan to “make the campus a better place” said Bandali.
“We knew that this was possible and that is what drove us to get this done,” said Kennedy.
The compost that will be produced from the composting receptacle will be used on campus according to the S.E.A. This includes various plants and trees will utilize the compost as well as the on campus garden.
The S.E.A. also said that they would be setting up a table next to the new composting receptacle once it is installed in the cafeteria to teach students and faculty how to compost.
“If people don’t know how to compost, this is a really good opportunity for us to teach them…. We don’t want to exist for ourselves, we want to exist for a greater purpose” said Kennedy.
