Middle School Reaps Waste-Reduction Title

To say that Nobel Middle School took the environmental responsibility of waste reduction to heart is a drastic understatement.

The Northridge school won the first-ever “Battle of the Schools” waste-reduction contest last month, aggressively recycling and diverting green waste into a compost site. Nobel reduced its pre-contest levels of solid wastes from 1,400 cubic feet per week to 600, a reduction of 60%. By comparison, most other schools in the contest reduced waste levels by about 20%.

“A 60% reduction--that’s very impressive,” said Tom Lawrence of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, which sponsored the contest in conjunction with the environment group TreePeople.

“Nobel is an absolute model and we’re taking their example and highlighting it to other schools interested in this program.”

“We were quite surprised and thrilled over how well we did,” Nobel plant manager Kelly Rogers said. “We already had a recycling program on campus but during the contest the recycling increased tremendously.”

Added Nobel Principal Rita Wakefield Davis: “It’s great to know our youngsters are ecology-minded and that they do care about the planet and know the value of recycling.”

The contest was funded by the county Public Works Department in response to Assembly Bill 939, which mandates that all municipalities reduce their waste by 50% by 2000, said Darrell Yuen, administrative coordinator for secondary education for TreePeople.

“The goal is to have the county fund this project for another year and to have more of these events in the future,” Yuen said.

The monthlong contest, which ended Oct. 20, attracted 35 schools throughout Los Angeles County.

Nobel easily outdistanced second-place Maricosta Junior High of Manhattan Beach, which managed a 25% reduction in weekly waste disposal.