Malibu Campus Upcycles to Zero Waste

A nonprofit private school in Malibu recently unveiled a new zero waste campus, where recycling, reusing and upcycling are just the beginning.

No plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic straws and noncompostable takeaway containers are allowed at Muse School in Malibu, with students employing five bins to collect waste: The first for anything that can be reused or repurposed; second for items such as glue sticks that can be upcycled via Terracycle; the third for recyclable items; the fourth for ewaste and the fifth for trash, if there’s any left.

Plus, the school employs MUSE Mews—shelter rescue cats—to mouse the premises and a falconer to keep the outdoor rodents in control.

“I have visited so many platinum LEED school buildings, and you walk in and there are plastic bottles and toxic cleaners and plastic straws. Muse is really about going 100% of the way,” school co-founder Suzy Amis Cameron, mother of five and wife of “Avatar” director James Cameron, told the Los Angeles Times.

The next step? Moving Muse to net zero energy, via solar power, according to Cameron.

Read more about the school’s sustainability program.