COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — The movement started last spring with a dinner table conversation at then third-grader Aggy Deagle’s home.
Aggy’s family talked about Earth Day approaching and what their family might do to help the planet.
Aggy homed in on the hundreds of foam trays used by the school district’s lunch program at Butler Elementary School, where she and her little sister, Liv, are students.
It really bugged her that each of those trays end up in a landfill, where they likely wouldn’t break down for 500 years, if at all.
So Aggy decided to take the school lunch trays on as an issue, at first raising her concerns with Principal Jeff Nalwalker.
As a first step, Aggy wanted to use reusable plastic trays for the lunch program, if even just on Earth Day. She was certain that some students would willingly sacrifice some of their recess time to wash the trays.
For safety reasons, that was a nonstarter. But Nalwalker volunteered to wash hundreds of lunch trays to do his part for Earth Day and not further burden school nutrition workers. He spent close to two hours on dishwashing duty that day.
Nalwalker said he attempted to hire a dishwasher so the school could use plastic trays on an ongoing basis. That was easier said than done, he said.
“With this employment market, it’s hard to get someone to come work two hours a day,” Nalwalker said.
Aggy and her sister persisted. In the meantime, then-fourth graders Evelyn Fisher and Annabelle Cheney heard about Aggy’s effort to eliminate the school’s use of foam lunch trays.
They approached her with the idea of a starting a petition. The girls posted petitions in the school library and outside the cafeteria. They also collected signatures during recess.
Some 85 percent of the Butler Elementary students signed the petitions, which the girls presented to the Canyons Board of Education last spring, asking board members for their support.
Fast forward to the current school year. The school has abandoned use of foam trays in favor of compostable trays made from a pulpy residue produced when juices are extracted from sugar cane. The movement is spreading across the district.
The compostable trays come at a cost to the school district’s nutrition services department, however. They cost 7 cents each compared to 3.5 cents per foam tray.
“It’s so much better ’cause I used to hate watching the trays go into the trash. I used to hate that,” said Aggy.
Evelyn agrees. “It just gives me a feeling of satisfaction every time I see them and kids using them.”
Annabelle added, “It makes me feel good because we made a difference.”
On Sept. 9, Butler Elementary School held an assembly to thank the school board and the nutrition services department for making the change.
On Tuesday night, Butler students attended a school board meeting to be recognized by the board and to again thank board members for supporting their idea.
The school district is also using metal utensils that are washed after each meal instead of single-serve plastic forks, spoons and knives.
Nalwalker said the changes increased the nutritional services budget by about $200,000. “When you stop to think about it, these little girls pushed $200,000 on the budget. It’s a pretty big deal,” he said.
However, the district’s purchasing department has been working to partner with other school districts that also want to switch to compostable trays, which will further reduce costs, he said.
Nalwalker said he believes the school board took the students’ concern seriously because it grew out of genuine concern about the impact of continued use of foam plates.
“When you talk to them, you can tell that this is them. This is authentically their brains. These are three of our very smartest kids, our most passionate kids,” he said.
“Also, girl power! Watch out Greta Thunburg,” Nalwalker said, referring to the Swedish teenage climate activist recently awarded the 2019 Right to Livelihood Award, which is considered the “alternative Nobel Prize.”
Evelyn said not all adults listen to kids, so the small group was grateful when the board took their concerns seriously.
“It’s just exciting that four kids still in elementary school can make such a big difference because it’s spread to the whole district and Mr. Nalwalker thinks it’s going to spread to other districts, also,” she said.
“A small idea and a few friends can change the world,” Annabelle said.
“Yeah,” Aggy agreed.