In the heart of Northeast Ohio, a green revolution is taking place within school lunchrooms. Dozens of schools have partnered with Rust Belt Riders (RBR) a worker-owned cooperative, to divert food scraps from landfills and transform them into nutrient-rich soil. This initiative not only reduces waste but also educates students about sustainability and the circular economy.
RBR services approximately 5,000 households and 300 commercial businesses across Cuyahoga and Lorain counties making it a key player in the region’s waste management and sustainability efforts. The cooperative’s Tilth Soil brand is the result of a meticulous composting process that turns food waste into a valuable resource.
From Food Scraps to Nutrient-Rich Soil
The journey of food scraps begins in school lunchrooms, where students and staff collect waste and deposit it into RBR’s collection bins. After each weekly pickup, the food scraps are transported to a processing partner in Lorain County. Here, they undergo thermophilic static composting a process explained by RBR Director of Hauling, Robert Kurtz.
The food scraps are arranged in piles to decompose. As they break down, nutrients are released, and temperatures rise. To effectively break down the waste and eliminate any weeds, seeds, or pathogens, the compost must reach and maintain temperatures of at least 131 degrees Fahrenheit. This process takes three to six months resulting in nutrient-rich soil that can be used for garden beds, house plants, and farming.
Organic material, like food waste, does break down naturally, but only when the right conditions are met writes Bennett Steidinger of Population Education. Composting requires care, oversight, and plenty of oxygen. In environments lacking oxygen, such as typical landfills, decomposing food waste generates methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Creating a Circular Economy and Educational Opportunities
RBR’s work creates a sustainable circular economy that serves as a memorable learning moment for students. Kurtz highlights the example of Heinens a grocery store chain that provides RBR with thousands of pounds of food scraps weekly. These scraps are composted into soil, which is then used by local Amish farms. The produce grown on these farms eventually returns to Heinens’ shelves, completing the cycle.
This example is a cornerstone of RBR’s school education program. Educators emphasize the importance of students understanding the origins of their food. Parma City Schools has taken this a step further with the creation of a Farm to School Coordinator position, currently held by Brittnee Rourke. Rourke oversees various initiatives, including menu development, taste tests, cooking in the classroom, outdoor gardens, and composting.
With 12 schools across the Parma City School District, Rourke explains how Farm to School projects intersect. For instance, Dentzler Elementary School students compost their lunch scraps, and the resulting Tilth Soil is donated to outdoor garden sites at Green Valley Elementary and Pleasant Valley Elementary. Students at these schools will grow produce in the soil created from compost, which will eventually be used in cooking activities. This paints a picture for kids that everything we do in our daily lives when it comes to food, even the scraps that we have, all root back to the food that we’re putting into our bodies and how we can grow it explains Rourke.
Student-Led Initiatives and Community Involvement
Within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) students at John Marshall High School launched a student-driven composting program this spring after years of careful planning. During the 2026-2026 school year, three AP Environmental Science students laid the groundwork for the initiative. With the guidance of their teacher, Mary Kennedy-Brown the students secured grant funding and presented their findings to school and district administrators.
On May 1, 2026 the John Marshall Environmental Club successfully launched their school composting initiative. Student compost monitors, trained by RBR, collect food waste from every student during lunch. Students sign up for shifts and keep records of their service hours, a district requirement for graduation. Kennedy-Brown noticed a shift in lunchroom culture just two weeks into the program. They’re thinking about how they can really make composting and being more sustainable in general part of the school culture. I’m really proud of them she explains.
The student body has embraced the composting rules, and interest has grown in becoming a compost monitor. Students are also focusing on reducing food waste altogether. Environmental Club students collect uneaten packaged food to share with others and are considering how food waste data might influence future menu choices.
Composting is an action even young students can take to become global citizens. The Lakewood City Schools district’s vision includes a competency in global citizenship, and composting is seen as an achievable way for students to reach this goal. Dr. Christine Palumbo assistant superintendent, highlights composting as a tangible example of how even young students can contribute to this competency.
Lakewood High SchoolGrant Elementary and Hayes Elementary all run composting programs in their cafeterias. Chef Corti originally introduced the idea to incorporate composting in the West Shore Culinary Arts Program and family and consumer science classrooms. A teacher, Julie May took the lead on launching composting at Grant Elementary School, and the PTA brought composting to Hayes Elementary School. Other buildings have expressed interest, but are not yet ready to launch.
The Lakewood school district supports composting but does not require it. Dr. Palumbo sees the benefits but also understands the time and commitment a composting program takes. Launching a school-wide composting initiative requires significant support and planning.
The Shaker Heights School District provides further insight into the logistic challenges of composting. All five Shaker elementary schools have composting in their lunchrooms and collectively diverted 9.73 tons of food in 2026. RBR taught staff and students how composting works, and the program’s momentum can be sustained over time through ongoing education.
The program needs to be managed and would not be possible without the consistent support and oversight of the custodial and food service teams in each building. These individuals collect the food scraps, coordinate bin pickups, keep everything clean, and help students avoid contaminating the compost. If the compost bin is contaminated with regular trash, it cannot be composted and is instead thrown out in the dumpster.
In addition to collecting food scraps at lunch, each of the Shaker elementary schools also serves as a community drop-off site paid for by the city and available to all Shaker residents. This community drop-off initiative launched at Lomond Elementary in 2026 and has since expanded to every elementary school building in the district. There were some growing pains as the surrounding community discovered the smell of compost bins, but the teams supported the program to keep it going.
RBR operates 52 drop-off points throughout Cuyahoga County. Drop-off services are available for $12 per month. The cities of Shaker HeightsCleveland Heights and Beachwood provide composting as a service at no charge to residences.
