The Students for Environmental Action Club hopes to make the world a little greener with the installation of a campus compost bin.

“The idea of a composting system came up as a far-fetched dream we wanted to try in the future because we had heard of other schools around the country doing it,” club project coordinator Lauren Maher said. “However, we started working out a few details, and realized it was more realistic than we thought.”

The bin will be set up to compost raw fruits and vegetables from student lunches.

“The composting set up for Liberty is a food waste collection that occurs about every 2-3 months on a single day during all lunches,” club sponsor and AP environmental science Jamie Berendt said. “The food waste is put in a compost turner and mixed with something we call ‘browns’’ material which is a collection of yard waste such as grass clippings, dried leaves, etc. When the two combine and are turned from time to time providing more oxygen, the decomposition process will create nutrient rich material we call compost.

Liberty is the first Frisco high school to install a composting system.

“There was a lot of planning that went into just coordinating the whole system,” club president Anikha Guda said. “We had to get permission from Mrs. Rainwater. The other science department teachers really helped us to push for the composting system because they wanted to use the system for educational purposes. We also reached out to the FISD environmental programs facilitator, Mr. Williams, who does recycling and compost stuff for other campuses for guidance.”

The club hopes the instigation of the compost bin inspires others on campus to start thinking more sustainably.

“The most exciting part about the composting system is that it has the potential to educate more people on what composting is and how it works,” Maher said. “In the best case scenario, we hope staff and students will want to start composting in their own lives, which could have a massive impact.”