The Willow School

Environmental

• Reduces potable water consumption by 375,000 gallons per year by using harvested rainwater to flush school toilets. This saves $2,230 annually.

• Treats and infiltrates 380,000 gallons of wastewater annually with a system that includes constructed wetlands and a sand filter.

Social

• Engages all 250 students in gardening throughout the year. An estimated 1% of the school’s food comes from the school vegetable gardens and adjacent fruit trees.

• Recycles an average of 280lbs of organic waste each month as compost for the vegetable gardens. Nearly all students surveyed always compost organic waste at school.

• Engages all 250 students in an educational curriculum that includes landscape processes and ethics. When a sample of students were asked to list environmentally-friendly features of green buildings, 82% listed landscape features such as rainwater harvesting, composting, vegetable gardens, or wetlands. When asked about stormwater, 86% of students knew that asphalt and concrete were not the best ground surfaces for managing stormwater around a building.