Shady Side Academy senior school students got to sleep in on March 7 as a reward for a successful challenge issued this winter.

Members of the environmental club challenged students and staff to reduce waste on campus.

Their work paid off — trash was slashed by 25 percent, school officials said.

Members raised awareness of the reduce, reuse, recycle message by talking at assemblies and also installing color-coded waste disposal bins in McCune Dining Hall.

Club leaders Molly Svorak, Adrian Beckford and Drew Fergus, along with members, made educational signs about what items to dump into each bin: compost, recycling or landfill.

According to the club faculty advisor Leah Powers, about 33.6 pounds of trash was collected each day during the challenge, compared to 58.4 pounds a day prior.

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