A mainly sunny sky. High near 70F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Clear skies. Low near 45F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.

Timber Essary, left, and Katherine Waits raised funds for Stillwater Middle School to purchase reusable trays and dishwasher.

Timber Essary, left, and Katherine Waits raised funds for Stillwater Middle School to purchase reusable trays and dishwasher.

A pair of Stillwater freshman girls who discovered a need to reduce cafeteria waste, and started working toward a solution, were able to see their efforts come to fruition.

Timber Essary and Katherine Waits visited Stillwater Middle School the past week.

“In seventh grade, we realized how much Styrofoam trash was being thrown away because of the trays we use at lunch,” Waits said. “As student council members, we wanted to do something different.”

After meeting with student council leader Quinn Baldwin, cafeteria staffer Krista Neal, Middle School facilities employees and several teachers, Essary and Waits knew they should take action.

They raised $35,000 from a local foundation for the purchase of reusable lunch trays, an industrial dishwasher and tray bath for the cafeteria. Essary and Waits met with and presented the project to the Stillwater Board of Education several times in 2021 to encourage them to move forward with the needed facility upgrades to make this happen.

“Mr. Tony, the middle school janitor, takes out so much less trash,” Baldwin said. “And the cafeteria staff can clean the cooking pans in half the time. It’s a considerable change.

“I am proud of these girls and the enormous gift they gave to our school and the community.”

The girls are hoping the effort is contagious. They learned that SMS had stopped using the previous dishwasher in 1997. Since then, 90 percent of SMS’ trash came from lunch trays, and the foam trays are a yearly expense.

“It’s really cool to see the metal trays and dishwasher in action,” Waits said. “Maybe we can do this for other schools in the district.”

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.

Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.

First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.