Partners in Education

The City of Eugene invests in our community by partnering with local education institutions, nonprofits, and community groups to promote waste prevention and resource conservation for residents of all ages. The following organizations listed below receive City funding to provide services to Eugene residents.

Highlights from 2018-19 include: 

Waste Prevention and Composting Education Grants

Elementary students collecting food waste in a cafeteria for compostingWaste prevention and composting education grants were awarded to 4J and Bethel schools in the 2018-19 school year to help create opportunities for hands on learning and measurable educational outcomes for local students. Information about these grant funded projects can be found here:

Eugene 4J and Bethel School District Support

Bethel green team students creating a recycling project

Waste Prevention Curriculum was implemented by 4J and Bethel District personnel. Final report-out of 4J activities are available for the 19-20 school year; Bethel activities are available for the most recent school year also.


Highlights of waste prevention and food waste diversion in each district are available.  


Operational assistance through the Love Food Not Waste (LFNW) program and school-wide waste audits: download the LFNW school training manual.


Waste Prevention and science based conservation including STEM learning resources can be found here at 4J’s EWEB Education Partnership website!


School Garden Project of Lane County

A school garden educator showing a student a plant start

School Garden Project  (SGP) instructed 921 K-5th graders for a total of 8,530 hours of garden-based STEM instruction in thirteen schools in Bethel and 4J. Additionally, 106 students from 6 schools participated in 107 after-school STEM sessions through the 4J BEST program, totaling 874 hours.


Schools utilized 9.25 cubic yards of Love Food Not Waste compost in school gardens in 2019-20 thanks to partnership with Rexius.


View videos of SGP’s work which are available on their YouTube channel.


Highlights of SGP’s work (PDF download) are also available.


University of Oregon $CORE Program 

Observers tour a tiny home village under construction

In partnership with City of Eugene and EWEB, trained $CORE Program Student Energy Educators from the UO School of Architecture and PPPM perform energy assessments on homes and provide home energy reports to tenants and property owners.


Since the program began, $CORE has assessed 552 homes for property owners and completed 108 energy efficiency improvements to these homes.  In total, property owners have invested $470,000 in upgrades and taken advantage of $97,000 in EWEB rebates, saving tenants a total of 171,000 kWh.


View a report on the energy assessment work performed by $CORE.


OSU Extension Services

Trench composting at River House

Did you know that over 52% of Eugene households backyard compost?


OSU Extension in Lane County provides free compost demonstrations for community members at a variety of sites in Eugene.


View their demonstration schedule (downloadable PDF) to learn how to get your own compost system up and running!