Did you know that 450 students have the power to make only 1 bag of trash during lunchtime? 5th grader Ethan, who is a member of Grades of Green’s Youth Corps Eco-Leadership program, has been leading a waste reduction effort at his school and officially launched a lunchtime sorting station as his Grades of Green Project. After giving a presentation to all physical education classes about how to sort lunchtime waste and how to reduce, reuse and recycle, Ethan worked with Grades of Green to set up a sorting station consisting of a food waste collection, recyclables collection, tray stacking, and a landfill trash can. At the end of the first day of sorting, only 1 bag of landfill trash was created; a dramatic reduction from the usual 8 bags each day. Ethan plans to work with parent and student volunteers to keep the program going, and to keep Meadows Elementary School trash free. Inspired by Ethan to start reducing waste at your school? Register your school with Grades of Green, and to see our waste-reduction activities and resources.