LONGMONT, Colo. — A student-led environmental club at Flagstaff Academy Charter School has launched a composting program that is diverting more than 120 pounds of food waste from landfills each week, partnering with a local regenerative agriculture operation to feed the scraps to pigs and return nutrients to nearby farms.
The Flagstaff Academy Green Team, a club for students in fifth through eighth grade, began the Picky Pig Compost Pilot Program in January 2026 with funding from a grant from the Flagstaff Academy Parent Teacher Organization. The program was initially limited to kitchen food scraps, averaging about 20 pounds of food waste per week. In mid-February, the program expanded to include student food waste from elementary school lunches, pushing the weekly total to approximately 120 pounds of organic material.
“This truly is in its infancy, and we’re really excited to see what comes from it,” said Stacy Wolff, a science resource teacher at Flagstaff Academy and one of four staff advisors to the Green Team…