Green Initiatives
Composting, recycling and waste reduction at The Anderson School.
The Anderson School has a notable green history — one that began with a move, and ended up changing how hundreds of New York City schools handle their waste.
Anderson Recycles!
In August 2009, The Anderson School relocated from PS 9 on W. 84th Street to its current location at The O'Shea Complex on W. 77th Street. Faced with the task of moving from one building to another, the Anderson community seized the opportunity to build in waste prevention, reuse and recycling. When they discovered there was no recycling programme within The O'Shea Complex, Anderson students, parents and administration banded together to start one in their own school, which was then rolled out building-wide.
Anderson established the foundations of a strong recycling collection programme, covering mixed paper, metal, glass and plastic beverage containers, foil, metal cans and corrugated cardboard from across the school. Students trained as “Trash Troopers” police the recycling buckets in their classrooms and cafeteria, and teach their classmates how and what to recycle. In 2010 the school won the Golden Apple Award, Citywide and Borough Winner in the Elementary Division, for Super Recyclers.
Composting and waste prevention
One key advance was the PTA's decision to eliminate disposable Styrofoam cafeteria trays and fund “bagasse” trays made from sugar cane waste instead. An organic waste collection programme followed, gathering both the compostable trays and food scraps — Anderson's cafeteria now composts more than 100 pounds of organic waste a day. Other efforts include a sharp reduction in paper memos, waste-free lunch items, and materials reuse drives. In 2012 the school won a second Golden Apple Award, for Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
In 2011, Anderson's work paved the way for a District 3 composting pilot, which launched similar programmes at PS 166, PS 199 and the Joan of Arc Campus. The pilot's success led the DOE to expand composting citywide. As of 2018, 725 New York City public schools take part in the DOE's Organics Collection programme.
Watch: the Golden Apple award
A short film by past Anderson parent Pamela French, celebrating the school's 2010 DSNY Golden Apple Super Recyclers Award.
“As a green enthusiast, a producer/director and most of all a parent, I'm very excited to be sharing this video. You too can make a change in your schools — it can be as easy as ABCs and 123s. To quote one of the teachers: ‘I'm just trying to save the world.'”