Three grade 10 students at OKM are participating in the final round of the Kelowna Sustainable Development Challenge in hopes of winning the $5,000 prize.
That prize would finance their composting project which aims to help eliminate the high volume of food waste at their school.
Maddy Darlington, Avery Ford and Taylor Blenkin learned in a previous waste audit done at OKM, about 50% of OKM’s waste was actually compostable.
“Every orange peel, apple core and banana peel ends up going to the landfill, and when a lot of people have snacks like these, it adds up,” said Maddy.
When food waste decomposes in landfills, it does so without oxygen, causing toxic methane gas to be released into the air, damaging the environment.
“We decided that we wanted to make a real difference, and the project took off from there,” Maddy said.
As per teacher recommendation, Maddy, Avery and Taylor entered into the Kelowna Sustainable Development Challenge to tackle the issues related to the 17 United Nations' Global Goals.
Throughout the challenge, the girls have been required to pitch their projects, complete an abstract and participate in a series of mentorship nights.
As a key part of their experience, the team worked with a community partner organization throughout the competition to further develop their project.
They selected Spa Hills Compost, a knowledgeable composting company based out of Salmon Arm, as their community partner organization.
"After looking at our options, we decided that Spa Hills would be a great fit and the perfect service for our school," Maddy said.
In order to make their project a reality, Maddy, Avery and Taylor are aiming to win first place at the challenge finale so they can win $5,000 worth of funding and bring composting to OKM with Spa Hills.
“Not only has it been a very educational experience, but it has also been an amazing opportunity for us to meet so many inspiring and helpful people from the Okanagan and Kelowna communities,” said Maddy.
“The entire process of working towards composting at OKM has been really rewarding, and we are so proud of how far we have come.”
Support Maddy, Avery and Taylor by checking out their Instagram account to follow along their journey, watching the live recording of the Sustainable Development Challenge final presentations on Feb. 24, 2021 and by donating to the Sustainable Development Challenge to help provide all teams with funding for their projects.
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