160 elementary students at three St. Paul schools (Hamline-Hancock, Randolph Heights, and Battle Creek) were educated as part of a year-long waste reduction focus in their classrooms. The students heard four different waste reduction lessons presented by county staff (on paper reduction, toxicity reduction, composting, and food waste reduction) and used a special “Reducing Waste Workbook” created for the project to reflect on what they learned and plan and complete service-learning projects with a waste or toxicity reduction impact. The students reached 1,405 community members and families through their projects. At the culmination of the year, the students from the three schools gathered for an Earth Day information exchange, and staff presented results of the projects to 70 St. Paul Public Schools and at three national conferences. Several of the classroom teachers plan to continue waste reduction education in the future, and the Service-Learning Program will continue connecting teachers in the district with waste reduction speakers and project ideas.

In 2007-08, 230 students from five St. Paul schools (Harding Senior High School, Highland Park Junior High School, American Indian Magnet, Hancock/Hamline Collaborative, and Randolph Heights Elementary) learned about waste reduction topics from presentations made by county staff and other experts. Using a special workbook created for the project, students surveyed their families’ current waste practices, planned action steps to make changes at home, implemented a service-learning project, and made presentations on waste issues to over 1450 people. The focus of the service-learning projects included toxicity reduction among Hmong families, reducing paper waste at school, worm composting, and recycling. Teachers involved in the projects plan to continue the environmental lessons in future years.