Kent Students to Study Waste Reduction Courtesy EPA Grant

will use yet another grant to help reduce the district's effect on the environment.

Kent students will be among more than 5,000 across Northeast Ohio who get to learn more about waste reduction and sustainability courtesy a grant from the Ohio EPA’s Environmental Education Fund.

The $29,790 grant was awarded to Sustainability for Educators and the Environment (SEE) – one of nine Ohio communities and organizations to receive a total of $300,000 to support environmental education programs.

Jim Soyars, Kent's business administrator, said SEE has been working with several of the district's buildings on recycling and waste reduction.

Students have learned a variety of waste reduction practices ranging from composting at to increasing rates of food scrap diversion at , according to SEE's website.

SEE’s educators will use the grant to show K-12 students how to engage in zero-waste practices, perform waste audits and construct lunch waste composting stations and recycling stations for bottles, cans, paper and plastic, according to the Ohio EPA. Students will create signs to promote the stations, track waste volume reductions achieved and post the results on a social networking website.

In June, the district received to reduce diesel exhaust emissions in 14 of the district's 32 buses courtesy the EPA Clean Diesel School Bus Fund.