Calif. school gets serious about zero waste

Nov. 8 -- Muse School, a non-profit private school for children ages 2 through 12 in Malibu, Calif., has a new zero-waste sorting unit that allows students and staff to throw away plastics, metal, paper and even electronics.

The facility uses a five-bin collection system. One bin is for anything that can be reused; another is for pens, glue sticks, cereal boxes and other products the schools has agreed to upcycle; e-waste is placed in one while another is for trash, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The school doesn’t allow plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic straws, Styrofoam, single-use plastic utensils or noncompostable takeaway containers to be used on campus, the paper reported.

Instead, the school gives students and staff refillable stainless-steel bottles.

"I have visited so many platinum LEED school buildings, and you walk in and there are plastic bottles and toxic cleaners and plastic straws. Muse is really about going 100% of the way," said school co-founder Suzy Amis Cameron, wife of ·Titanicö and ·Avatarö director James Cameron.

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Vince Bond Jr. at vbond@crain.com or 313-446-1653.

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