Salem Public Schools Rolling Out Student Composting District-Wide
Food and Nutrition Services composting effort launched at Salem High School this week
SALEM (Sept. 19, 2025) – In Massachusetts, more than 25 percent of the solid waste stream is made up of food waste, meaning that over 1 million tons of organic material are wastefully sent to landfills or burned at incinerators each year.
The result is a shortage of landfill space, effectively sending all trash to a waste-to-energy incinerator where harmful greenhouse gases are released into the environment.
For the last three years, Salem Public Schools Department of Food and Nutrition Services has been working to do its part: channeling food waste from its kitchens and cafeterias into valuable compost.
Since 2022, all eight school kitchens have been composting waste while students at the Carlton Innovation School began composting cafeteria waste in 2023-24, and the Horace Mann Laboratory School last year.
Composting creates the right conditions to turn food waste into soil enrichment. Nutrients in the food return to the soil that is used in many local gardens and farms, even the gardens at each of the schools in Salem.
It has inspired the Food and Nutrition Services Department to launch a student composting program in all other cafeterias effective the 2025-26 school year, beginning with Salem High School.
Last week, several SHS students collaborated to create a “How to Compost” video to show their peers this new routine.
“We are proud to launch the student composting effort at Salem High School and throughout the district,” said SPS Director of Facilities Zissis Alepakis. “It’s very early in the roll-out, but our students have been very receptive to it. I also believe it is a natural progression for school districts across Massachusetts and the country. Composting is a relatively easy process from which everyone benefits.”
Each week, compost bins containing food scraps and compostable paper materials are retrieved by Black Earth Compost and processed at its industrial composting facility in Manchester by the Sea, Mass.
The effort follows the District’s Strategic Plan, particularly its core principle of elevating learning, in which students learn the value of composting.
As the program evolves, volunteers are critical in supporting students and answering questions. Students interested in volunteering to help implement composting are encouraged to contact City of Salem Waste Coordinator Alisa Cherkasova at acherkasova@salem.com or SPS Food and Nutrition Services Program Director Michaela Short at mshort@salemk12.org.
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts, a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens through which we view our work. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff unconditionally serves each of our 4,000 students across 11 schools regardless of ability or language.
