The EarthWays Sustainability Network (ESN) is a year-long teacher professional development program the serves to provide waste and recycling support to educators throughout the St. Louis community. This network of trained educators is dedicated to learning more about waste, waste reduction, and recycling, takes a leadership role in their school's efforts to reduce waste, and provides peer support and guidance to other educators. 

ESN teachers train with EarthWays Center education staff for a year - learning about solid waste issues, discovering ways to reduce waste in their school, and implementing new projects to reduce waste and increase recycling rates in the community. Each ESN teacher advises a school Green Team, involving students in solutions to school waste issues. 

It is our belief that schools, including teachers and students have an enormous capacity to make a difference in our community. The ESN program prepares teachers to be leaders in empowering their students to take action and solve real-world problems. This program serves to provide knowledge and resources for both students and teachers and to help schools better achieve waste reduction goals. As young learners, students form the knowledge-base and values system that gets carried into their adult lives. These values and judgments impact students’ relationship to the environment and their community as they become active, engaged citizens.

Special thanks to the St. Louis County Department of Public Health for funding the ESN pilot year through their Recycling/Waste Grant program utilizing County landfill surcharge funds. Continued funding for the program is supported by the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Are you interested in improving school sustinability? Join the 2022-23 EarthWays Sustainability Network Cohort!

ESN teachers train with EarthWays Center staff for a year learning about solid waste issues, discovering ways to reduce waste in their school, and implementing new projects to reduce waste and increase recycling rates in the community. In this program, teachers and schools receive:

• One-on-one support from EarthWays staff
• Support of fellow cohort members
• Professional development workshop
• Stipend to purchase materials for waste reduction project
• Preferential scheduling for outreach programs, field trip scholarships, and STEM Nights

EarthWays staff is accepting new schools into the network for the 2022-23 school year. To be eligible for the network, schools must be located in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County, or Jefferson County. This program is flexible with all virtual learning, school social distancing, and health regulations. The staff at EarthWays understands that this year is different and will support projects that make sense for your school's situation from having students examine their waste at home to making changes in how your school recycles.

If you would like to receive more information about participating in ESN, please fill out the application or contact Maggie directly at mmccoy@mobot.org. 

ESN 2022-23 Application

Our teachers from the 2019-20 cohort were from Brown Elementary in Hazelwood, Captain Elementary in Clayton, Long Elementary in Lindbergh, and Meramec Elementary in St. Louis City. Read about the success they had in furthering school sustainability in their case studies!

The 2019-20 cohort of ESN teachers finished the school year in the spring having made significant progress towards their school sustainability goals despite the interruptions from COVID-19 shutdowns. Need inspiration for your project? Read about their projects, plus projects from other cohorts, in our case studies.

2020-21 Sustainability Education Case Study

2019-20 ESN Case Study

2018-19 ESN Case Study

2017-18 ESN Case Study

2016-17 ESN Case Study

• Partnerships Help With Hands-on Learning - St. Louis Catholic Review
• Halls Ferry Elementary as FFSD Green School