A waste-free lunch program is a process of educating students, parents, and school staff about where our trash ends up and how we, as individuals, can reduce the amount of trash we generate. Waste-free lunch programs favor the use of reusable food containers, drink containers, utensils, and cloth napkins. They discourage the use of disposable packaging, such as prepackaged foods, plastic bags, juice boxes and pouches, paper napkins, and disposable utensils.
"READ ALL ABOUT TERRANICHOL ACADEMY"
OREGON ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL- by Rebecca Chung
Terra Nichol Academy of the Arts
Terra Tominelli
Englewood, FL
Terra Tominelli has been taking care of children for 17 years. Currently, she cares for 50 children at TerraNichol Academy of the Arts, where she is both the owner and educational program director. Terra heard about the Eco-Healthy Child Care (EHCC) program while browsing the internet. She lives a green lifestyle so it was natural for her to seek out this endorsement. Terra says it is important to start with teaching young children to “keep the Earth safe…by beginning where learning starts.”
Like other child care providers, Terra has gone above and beyond complying with the EHCC checklist. Terra has created what she calls an “eco-village”, an eco-healthy playground. She brings the classroom outside, using tree stumps as chairs for their alfresco “library.” Each Friday, during summer camp “pizza day”, the children enjoy homemade pizza topped with fresh tomatoes and herbs from their garden. They also use filter water pitchers rather than using bottle water. And, all art materials are non-toxic; They soon will be adding new materials such as soy and beeswax crayons.
At TerraNichol Academy of the Arts, recycling is the norm: there are recycling bins in each classroom, tires are reused for obstacle courses, rubber mulch, and flower beds, and they soon will be utilizing rain barrels for their garden. They also recycle batteries, ink cartridges, and cell phones. In addition, trash bags are biodegradable, paper products are not used, homemade cleaning solutions are phosphate-free, and lunch boxes are waste-free (reusable containers and cloth napkins). There is a worm farm for composting and children learn to drop lunch waste into compost containers and children are also taught to conserve water and energy (by turning lights off). Terra has taken her commitment to being eco-healthy to another level—when she holds fundraisers, she chooses companies that are eco-healthy and do not sell toxic products.
Terra has some tips for helping child care providers become eco-healthy. She says, “Don’t feel like it’s something that can’t be accomplished. Educate and involve parents, utilize the community, have things donated that people aren’t using, and most of all, take baby steps.”
Parents have been very supportive of Terra’s eco-healthy practices. Terra’s recycling program has been well received—in fact, it’s often overflowing. One of the parents owns a company that makes products out of recycled materials—water bottles and other plastic materials are converted into things like picnic tables. Word has spread and nearby schools are enthusiastic to learn more about how they too can become eco-healthy.
Terra acknowledges that it can be a lot of hard work at first, but it is important to educate people for our future and our environment. It is clear her efforts have paid off. She has gone from 10 bags of trash per day to now only 2 bags per day, which mostly consists of diapers.
When asked why she thinks the Eco-Healthy Child Care program is important, Terra replies, “if you start early with children and educate them about taking care of the environment…it will continue into adulthood and they’ll pass it on to their children and their grandchildren.”
SECOND ARTICLE
JANUARY 15,2009
ENGLEWOOD SUN NEWS
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By DANA SANCHEZ
ENGLEWOOD -- Milk jugs collected all summer long by preschoolers have been melted down and converted into something they can use, a plastic picnic table that now sits on the playground at TerraNichol Academy of the Arts on Manasota Beach Road.
It's just one of many eco-friendly projects that helped earn the school certification as an Eco-Healthy Child Care facility. Teaching green principles to toddlers can pay off in word-of-mouth endorsements and increased enrollment, said Sherry Workman, executive director of the Austin, Texas-based National Administration of Child Care Professionals.
The organization is one of several in the U.S. which accredits preschools. Teachers incorporate recycling, composting and conservation into the daily curriculum at TerraNichol School.
The playground itself is eco-friendly, complete with tree stumps for chairs and an obstacle course made of tires. Rubber mulch covers the flower beds and rain barrels water the garden. Home-made pizza on Pizza Day is made from tomatoes and herbs grown in the school's own garden during the summer. Filtered water pitchers are used instead of bottled water. Art classes are taught using soy-based paint and children draw with beeswax crayons.
School owner Terra Tominelli has exceeded standard requirements for becoming an accredited school, Workman said. Becoming accredited qualifies the school for state funding, but receiving that accreditation is a rigorous process that includes classroom observation and parent surveys.
Schools that go the extra mile and embrace green principles are performing self-reviews, making themselves more highly accredited, Workman said.
"That's a very good thing. That's just another indication of their professionalism and their concern for healthy children," said Workman, who serves on the advisory committee of Eco-Healthy Childcare, a Portland, Oregon-based organization that awarded the certification to TerraNichol Academy.
In a feature story, the Oregon Environmental Council praised the local school for recycling batteries, ink cartridges and cell phone batteries. It also approved of the school's worm farm for composting. Here, children learn to drop lunch waste into composting containers.
Students cook up homemade solutions that are used to clean the school. They are phosphate-free; made of lavender oil, baking soda, vinegar and tea tree oil.
They then take what they have learned home to their parents, sometimes insisting that parents follow the earth-friendly practices they've learned at school.
"I think it's so important not to expose children to toxins," Tominelli said. "It's made a huge impact. We call our students the eco-friendly police."
Tominelli tries to do business with companies that are eco-friendly.
The school used to dispose of 10 bags of trash a day, but has whittled that down to two because of its eco-healthy habits.
Why is that important?
"I felt if I'm going to do it at home, I have to do it at school," Tominelli said. "It takes a village. It's important to educate the community that there are those options in a preschool."
E-mail: dsanchez@sun-herald.com By DANA SANCHEZ
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