The Secretaria de Educación Pública (SEP) formalized a program with the education council of Todos Santos and Pescadero to work with Alianza Cero Basura to roll out a circular economy program in the public elementary schools of our community. Miguel Hidalgo Elementary School achieved several important milestones in its first semester with the program:

a. Waste Management

Achieving long-term behavioral change – disrupting then reinventing a lifetime of habits – is a huge challenge for every person regardless of age, occupation or educational level. The students and staff of Miguel Hidalgo are rising to the challenge! Two key achievements in this first semester:

1. Water station installed by our partners at Water Ways Baja: The full adoption of the water station, which students and staff use to fill their water bottles instead of buying and discarding single-use plastic water bottles, has been a major success.
2. School compost: Miguel Hidalgo now enjoys a “Hot Breakfast” program through which 100 students receive low-cost meals. To deal with the increase in organic waste generated by the breakfasts, Miguel Hidalgo has implemented the “Invisible Pet” project pioneered by Melton Albañez (see related news article here), through which students create compost from the organic matter.  In this first semester the students have diverted roughly 150 liters of organic waste away from the landfill into compost.

b. Environmental Partnerships

1. WWF: CSU Todos Santos Center’s zero waste leader, Antonio Diego,  established a partnership the WWF through which the WWF provided a pollinator garden to the school. This created the school-wide opportunity to convert arid spaces into outdoor learning spaces, highlighting the biodiversity of local flora and fauna.
2. Natura: On April 11 our waste collection partner Natura collected a 208-liter container full of PET containers for correct disposal. The PET containers were collected as part of our PET Separation Campaign at the school.

c. Active Teacher Participation

Teacher commitment has been key to implementing and sustaining ACB’s zero waste program at Miguel Hidalgo. Their dedication ensures that the program will have enduring, tangible results.

d. Board Commitment

The school’s board of directors has made a long-term commitment to the program, including fundraising for increased composting capabilities.