1. “COMPOSTA MANIA (CM)” An Environmental/Educational Program from School to Community By Tainachi Fernández, MEnvM, CQA Puerto Rico Composta, Inc. Founder

2. Consist of Three phases
Orientation phase- workshops to the students. Installation of composting bin.
Collection phase- organic matter collection begin, up to compost recovery.
School to community phase- Community knows about the project , and participate actively.

3. “From Garbage to Garden Educating for a Sustainable Future”

4. YEAR 2013
Composta Mania started at Eugenio Brac School Naguabo, Puerto Rico, thanks to a Mini grant from EFC Syracuse.
Impact 25 students from 4th grade
Students were initiated as “Friends of Earth”
Indirect impact to whole scholar community (about 500/year)

6. Identified needs To reduce the scholar garbage.
To convert un-used spaces into Eco friendly zone.
To integrate students and scholar community beyond traditional types of teaching.
To overcome the leisure of students during recreation time.

15. YEAR 2014
CM program was installed in other 3 schools at East Area: Naguabo and Vieques.
First time when the program impacted young students of Middle school (8th grade) and Kindergarten students.
Great achievements, changing minds, thru Sustainability and Food Safety.

16. Big memories….

17. Areas of opportunity
We were not enough due to the great demand of schools that wanted to carry out the CM program.
Then, was time to move to the next step.

18. YEAR 2015-2016 CM was transformed to amplify its impact at schools.
OLD CM
25-30 students
2-3 schools per year
About 100 students p/y
NEW CM
25-50 teachers
15-20 schools per year
About 3,750 students p/y

19. Composta Mania for Teachers
Consists of 3 workshops
First workshop- 8 h -Establishing my compost project: General Rules and Education
Second workshop – 4h Recovering Compost; Uses and benefits; laboratories
Third workshop- 4 h- Talks about sharing experiencies.

20. CM for Teachers
First WORKSHOP Ana Roque de Duprey School, Humacao, PR 08/29/2015 Funded by Green PR

26. 12 impacted municipalities, 25 impacted schools, 41 participant teachers, scholar workers
Municipality
# of impacted Schools
# participants
Humacao 3 8
Yabucoa 2
Naguabo 1
Ceiba
Fajardo 5
Gurabo
Caguas
San Lorenzo
San Juan 7
Toa Alta
Bayamón
Villalba

27. SECOND WORKSHOP Ana Roque de Duprey SCHOOL, Humacao, PR 01/30/2016
CM FOR TEACHERS
SECOND WORKSHOP Ana Roque de Duprey SCHOOL, Humacao, PR 01/30/2016

34. Exponential Impact (2013-2016)
Up November 2016: 45 public/private schools of Puerto Rico have been impacted by CM project.
About 90 teachers/Scholar workers have been directly impacted by CM.
About 6,750 students have been directly impacted. (75 students per teacher).
About 67,500 including their families have been indirectly impacted. (10 per student)
About 100,000 people have been heard about CM project. (Each impacted teacher, then impact about 250 citizens from the community)

35. Main drivers for project success
Dynamic and animated teachers
Educational material adapted, for teachers and students. (Tests, practice exercises, posters CD and others)
A text activity book created under project
Participant students are initiated in a Club: “Friends of Earth”

36. Main drivers for project success
Student is motivated to bring organic matter to the classroom.
Integration of family and scholar community into the project.
Integration of nearby community into the project.
Students inclusion- Students with special needs also are incorporated into the project.

37. Ana Roque de Duprey School, Humacao PR; 2015-2016
Composta Manía Project
Ana Roque de Duprey School, Humacao PR;

40. Memories…..

41. Luis Muñoz Rivera SJ School

42. Little obstacles; Big opportunities
To overcome myths about compost
Lack of interest from School administration or workers
Matter contamination with regular garbage
Keep yard waste on campus.
Accounting of organic matter deviated or compost generated.

43. Little obstacles; Big opportunities
Christmas/Summer vacations
Physical, nutrient evaluation of compost recuperated at the projects.
Lack of fixed funds allocated to the project.
Non-flexibles teachers class programs.
Follow up to current CM projects; previous years CM projects.

44. What’s Next… Composta Mania- Metro Area
Composta Mania- South/Center- Upcoming event on January 2017
Composta Mania- West- TBD
Goal- To establish alliances with Public/Private Agencies, to maximize impact.

45. Thanks for your attention