Parents urge West Chester Area SD to stop styrofoam trays and launch districtwide composting pilot

Two members of elementary-school sustainability committees asked the West Chester Area School District board on Jan. 27 to eliminate polystyrene (styrofoam) cafeteria trays and to support districtwide composting.

Julie Alcanaro, representing the East Goshen Elementary sustainability committee, said the group had met with the district business office and Anamark, the district's food-service vendor, and that the primary barrier to replacing trays was cost. "The main reason our district is still using these styrofoam trays is the cost difference ... which would be approximately $15,000 additional dollars for the district for the year," she said. She cited health and environmental concerns and noted that cities including New York and Philadelphia have made changes to remove polystyrene products.

Mora Dee, speaking with Alcanaro and identifying herself with East Ocean Elementary, urged the board to consider a composting program districtwide and described potential waste savings. "At just the estimate for 4 months of composting at just 1 elementary school saves over 30,000 pounds of waste in our community," she said, and said a districtwide program could divert hundreds of thousands of pounds of food waste from landfills and produce compost for local farms.

Both speakers requested that the board consider the cost impacts in next year's budget and help connect schools with municipal composting partners. The board thanked both speakers; no formal motion or vote on composting or tray replacement was recorded in the meeting transcript.