Los Altos High junior Austin Toubassi recognizes that promoting sustainable practices in an effort to slow climate change and prevent waste on a large scale can start with one initiative to create change in the community.
When Toubassi saw the massive amount of waste created by the cross-country and track and field teams’ pre-meet “pasta feeds,” in which more than 140 team members carbo-load to prepare for the next day’s competitions, he knew there had to be a better way.
Drawing inspiration from the Los Altos High PTSA Sustainability Committee’s Zero Waste to Landfill policy, Toubassi and fellow team member Axelle Allanic, a sophomore, set out to convert the single-use plastic serving items to reusable materials. This began with the Toubassi family purchasing cups for the events, which Toubassi would take home and wash himself with several loads in the dishwasher.
From there, Toubassi and Allanic raised $500 to purchase additional materials such as tumblers, jugs and serving utensils in addition to compostable plates and silverware. Fellow team families have also directly donated reusable items. What started as an individual action became a teamwide effort to reduce their impact on the environment.
“He carries all reusable inventory to the event, carries it out, washes it in the dishwasher and gets it ready for the next event,” said Toubassi’s mother, Vija. “It’s a real commitment.”
“It definitely comes with a cost – there is a lot more preparation and background stuff that you have to do,” Toubassi said. “But we think it’s very worth it.”
Collective action
The demonstrated success of the program has garnered attention from other Los Altos High sports teams. The teams have coordinated a system so that other sports teams can borrow the reusable serving materials for their own events and return them washed and ready to go again. The varsity boys baseball team has recently taken them up on it and even plans to contribute more items.
In addition to the work he’s doing with the Los Altos High sports teams, Toubassi partnered with Nike to gather old running shoes from athletes that the company will then repurpose into playgrounds.
The PTSA Sustainability Committee took notice of Toubassi and Allanic’s work over the past year and awarded them the Excellence in Sustainability award. The PTSA also donated 200 metal forks to further the cause.
Sybil Kramer, founder of the committee, is heartened to see students take action and build up community surrounding green initiatives. The committee backs some of the school’s key sustainability programs, such as creating safe bike routes for schools and introducing reusable products, like whiteboard markers, to the classroom. The committee’s work has earned the school recognition as one of California’s Green Ribbon Schools, a federal award that honors schools’ sustainability efforts. The group originally created the Zero Waste to Landfill policy, which Toubassi and Allanic implemented on their teams.
“Our committee was so grateful to the efforts of Austin and Axelle for taking the initiative on their own to make the high school track and field team pasta feeds and end-of-the year celebration to be a zero-waste event,” Kramer said. “I am thrilled and applaud the efforts of these two amazing students.”
Toubassi is personally proud of the impact the program has already had in reducing plastic waste. He estimates that replacing the utensils with reusable items has prevented thousands of cups from going into landfills. The numbers add up quickly, especially now that other teams are joining the movement.
While Toubassi acknowledges the need for systemic change to address the issue of waste, he strongly believes in action from the bottom up.
“Even though you as a person might not see what the big deal is compared to big companies, just your contribution alone can be part of the harmful problem,” he said. “In order to be successful in saving our planet, we need hundreds, thousands, millions of people doing these mindful tasks.”
