1. By Ahmed Elghzali

2. There are many goals and purposes for implementing Composting in BVW. We will first build a garden here at BVW so we can get fresh fruits and vegetables. If we add a composting plan here in BVW we will decrease spending, we will help the plants, soil, and the environment, and it would reduce waste. The composting project will also serve as a way in spreading a message and teaching students how to do composing, and learning about the environment, so that they can do it at home. Adding a garden here at BVW would be great idea. I think that BVW should start producing more fruits and vegetables. The students would enjoy working in the garden and that will give them experience on how to raise a garden properly. The garden that will be located at BVW, will be located near the soccer fields in the back. It can be located around 200 yards away from the soccer practice fields. The gardens would be about 200 square feet. It is a good place for the garden because it will obtain a good amount of sunlight and it would look nice so people may want to come and help. It wont affect any soccer players because it will be far enough that the ball won't hurt any of the plants. The only problem is making sure there is enough space for this project.

3. The composting project will decrease spending here in BVW. It will be cheaper if BVW was able to get fresh Fruits and Vegetables from its Garden rather than buying it from companies. Composting will also decrease spending because we will be decreasing water on watering plants. Composing also eliminates the needs for fertilizers and other substances that people add to their soil. Composting is a good way to help the soil, plants, and environment. Composting helps the plants because it adds extra nutrients, it also makes the soil moist therefore giving the plant a better source for food. It also eliminates the chemicals that fertilizers give to the environment and giving the plant a more healthy way to grow. Also composting will help reduce VOCs. There are many reasons that Composting is good for the environment. A compost project at BVW would also reduce the school’s waste. We will reduce waste because we will be removing fruits, vegetables, and paper in school. Organic wastes, such as food waste and yard waste, make up 25 to 50% of what people throw away.

4. Having a Composting program here at school will also encourage students to do it at home. I believe that students will learn a lot if this plan is passed. The students will learn why composting is important and how it impacts us and the environment. This project will also give the students participating learn how to compost so they will be able to do it alone. The students at lunch may also want to contribute because they will see the bins at lunch and they will also taste fresh fruits and vegetables straight out of the garden.

5. The very first thing that we will do is go and ask the principle if we are allowed to build a garden near the soccer field. We will tell him about the size of the garden which will be 200 square feet. We will tell him about all the things that are required for the garden and benefits of doing this here at BVW. We will also ask if we are allowed add bins at lunch so people have an easy way of throwing away fruit scraps and if we can collect donations for the funds. On the bins it will be written what you can put in there and how much. This program will not be implemented until the year 2016-2017 because we will need to collect funds first. Before we will start composting here in BVW we will first start a Composting Club. We will find a teacher that cares about the environment and is willing to promote this club. In this Club we will talk about the importance of composting and how it can help the environment and how it will cost the school less to get some of its vegetables/Fruits. After we have made the club we will ask each person participating in the Club to bring in Specific items to start this composting project. We will ask for items including a bin, Bucket, worms, a cart/wagon, shovels, gloves, and the plant seeds.

6. After we have gathered our materials we will then go and set up the materials in the designated location. We will add the bins at lunch with the sign saying the items that are allowed in it. We will then go to the spot that we will start building a garden and we will add a garden. Students in the club will build the garden and will have supervision by the teacher promoting the club. We will build the garden in a way that wont damage the landscape. We will first add a fence and make an outline for the garden, after we have made an outline we will then make the soil suitable for planting. After we have built the garden we will then start making compost for the garden and the other existing plants in the school. We will then add the compost. The composting will be made every week. We will add nitrogen and carbon to a bin with worms to help decompose the parts. This project will be located near the garden so that we can transport the compost to the plants. We will bring the compost material daily to the garden so that we are able to compost. The place that we will store our materials is going to be located in the janitor’s closet and the items that will go to the janitors closet is the shovels, rakes, gloves, and small materials, some materials will stay outside including some of the bins and wagons, and some will stay in the lunch room including some bins and the donation jar.

7. There is not many funds necessary for this project. The main things that needs funding is the cost of the garden and the water needed to water the garden and the tools/materials needed. On average gardens have an average of $0.74 a square foot and a median average of $0.62. The amount of water needed for the garden isn't always the same but we can make some calculations depending on the weather/climate. The water needed for a vegetable in the garden is about 1.5 inch. The amount of vegetables expected to be grown in a sq. Ft. is 4, so in our garden it is expected to grow 800 plants minus some space for us to walk so around 750 plants. In total it is expected to have 1125 inches of water to water all the plants. If we have fruits and vegetables on average the cost for water in a 200 square foot garden is around $24,300. This program also needs money for the fence which costs around $3-$6 a foot. Assuming that we buy chain linked fence that costs $5.00 a foot then it will cost around $100 for the fence. We will also need equipment such as bins, buckets, wagon, shovel, water can, gloves, and seeds which will be acquired by people in the compost club.

8. The way that we will get these funds is through fundraising and donations in school. We will have a little jar during lunch, and that is the place that will receive donations. People participating in the club may want to bring in some of the little things such as bins, buckets, and the shovels etc. We will also have basketball/soccer tournaments every week and to participate it will cost $7.00 to join, and that money will go toward funding this program. The fundraiser will take place on Saturdays in the school gym, if the school gym is occupied then we will find a different location to host the fundraiser. The fundraiser will take place from 8 am- 3 pm.

9. Composting will be maintained at BVW by creating a club for composting. This Club will be available to any grade level (Freshman-Senior). This club will help with the composting process, the items required and making sure that the compost is working correctly and efficiently. The basketball/football fundraiser will also help with maintaining this project as that is one of the big ways that we are receiving funds. This project will also not be available during the winter as it is too cold and it won't be possible for the plants to grow but during that time we will still be collecting donations. This project will also be maintained because as long as students are eating fruits in lunch and are using paper in school there will always be the compost material. We may also want to expand this idea promoting it to other schools and also trying to expand the garden here at BVW.

10. A composting project will have many good environmental impacts here at BVW. Composting here at BVW will help the environment because it helps prevent pollution, helps clean up contaminated soil, and it enriches the soil. Composting will help prevent pollution because the organic material that was going to go to the landfills will go toward the composting. Organic wastes, such as food waste and yard waste, make up 25 to 50% of what people throw away. Organic material in the landfill releases methane gas which is a greenhouse gas and is harmful to the environment. Compost has also has been shown to stop pollutant in storm runoff from reaching the surface water. Runoffs are also harmful toward the environment. One way that composting stops runoffs is because composting encourages healthy root systems. Composting has also been proven to eliminate erosions.

11. Composting helps clean up contaminated soil. Composting has been proven to remove the odors in the soil and also treat VOCs and PAHs. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil and gasoline. (VOCs) are Volatile organic compounds which are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature. VOCs and PAHs are not a good thing to be in the soil and it may cause harm to the plant. Composting helps eliminate these compounds/hydrocarbons. Composting also binds heavy metals and prevents them from going to water resources or by being consumed by plants. Composting decreases wood preservatives, and pesticides in contaminated soils. That helps the plants and makes the plants look healthy. Composting is full of tiny air channels that hold air, moisture and nutrients. Compost can hold nutrients tight enough to prevent them from washing out, but loosely enough so plants can take the nutrients they need. Compost also makes any soil work easier which would help if a garden took place here in BVW.

12. Composting also helps enrich the soil and the plant. Composting helps the production of Good micro-organisms which help decompose the matter to create humus. These microorganisms also burrow through the soil keeping the soil well aerated. Humus increases the nutrients in soil and helps keep its moisture. Compost bacteria break down organics to make plants available nutrients. Compost reduces the amount of plant disease and pest, it eliminates the need for fertilizers, and it helps make more agricultural crops. Composting also neutralizes acidic and alkaline soils, making the pH levels of the soil the optimum range for nutrient availability for the plants.

13. References Carroll, D. (2013, may 5). How Much Water Do Vegetables Need? Retrieved from Our roots Run deep since 1918: http://bonnieplants.com/library/how-much-water-do-vegetables-need/ http://bonnieplants.com/library/how-much-water-do-vegetables-need/ CostHelper, I. (2014). fence cost how much does a fence cost. Retrieved from cost helper home and garden: http://home.costhelper.com/fence.html eartheasy. (2014 ). Composting. Retrieved from eartheasy: http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.htmlhttp://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html encyclopedia, w. t. (2015, april 29). compost. Retrieved from Wekidepia the free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost EPA. (2014, June 27). Environmental Benefits. Retrieved from U.S enviormental protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/composting/benefits.htm Hall, C. (2014, November 14). Utility Billing Rates. Retrieved from City of Lawrence Kansas: https://www.lawrenceks.org/utility_billing/rates langellotto, G. (2013, january). How Much Does a Vegetable Garden Cost/Save?. Retrieved from OSU Master Gardener(TM) : http://osumg.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-much-does-vegetable-garden-costsave.html Rauner, B. (2009, february). Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). Retrieved from Bruce Rauner, Governer Illinois Department of public health Enviormental Health Facts sheet: http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/polycyclicaromatichydrocarbons.htm Sam Dickinson, L. R. (2015). Home composting. Retrieved from Santa Barbara county Resource Recovery and waste management Division innovative enviormental solution: http://www.lessismore.org/materials/72-benefits-of-composting University, W. s. (n.d.). Compost Benifets and Uses. Retrieved from Compost Fundamentals: http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/fundamentals/benefits_benefits.htm Wikipedia. (2015, april 15). Volatile organic compound. Retrieved from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound Wikipedia, t. f. (2015, April 28). Basketball. Retrieved from Wikepedia the Free Encyclpodia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball