Towson High senior is helping to reduce garbage in the cafeteria

Claire Pomykala has been in Girl Scouts for about nine years now, and when it was time to do a project for her Gold Award — the highest achievement in the club — the Towson High senior started brainstorming with her troop leader and a friend.

“The one thing that I kept getting so riled up about was how much waste I see go into the trash cans everyday at school. I see people throw out entire lunches. I see people get six napkins, only use one, and then throw them all away,” Pomykala said.And one of the biggest culprits? Lunch trays made out of polystyrene foam, more commonly known as Styrofoam. It’s a petroleum-based product, and it’s not biodegradable, so on a list of environmentally friendly materials, it’s near the bottom.

“It is one of the largest factors of marine debris (causing ocean animals to choke and die from eating it), as well as a huge contributor to everyday trash. During the production of Styrofoam, HFCs and 57 other air byproducts are released into the air, damaging our air quality and increasing greenhouse gases,” Pomykala said. “Many people miss the fact that Styrofoam damages the air we breath and not just the ground we live on. Also, there used to be a recycling industry for Styrofoam, but that has completely vanished. Lastly, the chemicals used in Styrofoam can leach into the food we put on it, therefore entering and poisoning our bodies.”

She conducted research and made calls and discovered that some Baltimore County public middle schools and elementary schools were using biodegradable trays made of recycled cardboard. So she worked with science teacher Holly West and cafeteria manager Janessa Allen to make it work at Towson High. They had to coordinate where to keep used trays that could be recycled, and educate students on the change.

“[Claire] contacted and met with the key people, made videos educating students on how to process the used trays, ‘manned’ the tray table in the cafeteria, and now collects ‘clean’ trays,” said West, who is the THS Environmental Club sponsor and Green School coordinator. “Only spotless trays can be recycled, so there aren’t as many as we would like since high schoolers use a lot of mustard, ketchup, and ranch at lunch time. It’s a big accomplishment to discontinue the Styrofoam trays and use the ones made of recycled cardboard, and it’s a bonus for any of those to be clean enough to recycle.”

Maggie Witherup Allen, Pomykala’s troop leader, said the project took intense work.

“I would estimate that Claire has invested more than 75 hours so far on the project. She spent the summer researching the issue, communicating with school officials and county administrators, and learning about possible alternatives such as reusable plastic trays, whether the school had or could get dishwashing capabilities, recyclable and biodegradable trays, etc.,” Allen said. “Claire is a very impressive young woman and has demonstrated her commitment, hard work, and leadership skills on an issue she is passionate about. The switch to biodegradable trays will have a lasting positive impact at THS by reducing waste at the school and will hopefully be expanded to other schools.”

Pomykala said the trays aren’t the only trash issue at Towson and other schools, but it’s a start.

“Almost all of the food eaten by students is pre-packaged. It’s ridiculous! I know people have much busier lives than they used to, but to see a plastic sandwich bag, bag of potato chips, bag of fruit snacks, grab-and-go nutella, and basically anything else you can imagine go into the trash can every day by over 3,000 students?” Pomykala said. “I am completely horrified. By eliminating the Styrofoam trays at Towson, I have been able to make a small but positive impact on our Earth.”

-Kris Henry