Head-Royce is focused on creating a more sustainable future as a proud Bay Area Green Certified Business.

The Bay Area Green Business Program is a network of 9 county based programs coordinated by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). The Program assists and recognizes small businesses and public agencies that implement measures to conserve energy and water, minimize waste and prevent pollution. The Program recommends dozens of best practices, many of which reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and verifies that businesses meet the standards. More than 1,800 businesses have been certified since the Program's inception in 1996.

Head-Royce currently houses an array of 90kW solar panels and LEED-certified energy efficient buildings.

Head-Royce has partnered with Carbon Lighthouse, an innovative environmental organization whose mission is to stop climate change. Carbon Lighthouse helps Head-Royce reduce its carbon footprint by using sensors and predictive algorithms to optimize our lighting controls and current solar panels. This partnership will ensure the campus is carbon neutral in 20-plus years, which translates to a $4MM in lifetime energy savings for the School.

Approaching its 10th anniversary, the Head-Royce School Garden is managed by Gardening Teacher Christy Betts. The garden provides K-5 students the opportunity to explore and understand the various processes that produce the food we eat - from farm to table and back again! The curriculum focuses on teaching low-impact, environmentally responsible principles in order to maintain and support the health of the environment - both locally and globally. The garden also supports a robust composting system, which receives nearly 90% of its compost from the School's waste.

Epicurean Group, our food service provider, is dedicated to serving fresh, seasonal, and organic foods at every meal. Never relying on national vendors who deliver chemically processed and preserved food, Epicurean partners with local vendors within 150 miles of our campus to obtain and serve the highest quality and environmentally responsible food to our School community.

• Alyssa Peddy, of Epicurean Group and the general manager of The Jayhawk Cafe, our campus cafeteria, makes sure the cafe is fully stocked with bio-plastic (compostable) utensils and cups for our student, professional community member, and visitor use.
• Napkins and paper towels are produced from post-consumer recycled material.
• Students and faculty separate their food leftovers by organics, recyclables, and garbage.
• The majority of the compost in our School garden, comes from all of the pre-consumer waste (choppings discarded during meal preparation) produced by the Epicurean staff in the Jayhawk Cafe, which averages out to nearly 1,000 pounds of food waste that we are able to convert to renewable energy every two weeks - and that's before the meals ever hit the table!

In 2006, the City of Oakland resolved to adopt a Zero Waste Goal by 2020 and Head-Royce remains committed to this endeavor. In that vein, Head-Royce has implemented its own School-wide Zero Waste Week in an attempt to experiment with other potential improvements to its waste management system. Zero Waste Week pairs the spirit of competition with the School's collective efforts at conserving resources.

The school has also replaced garbage bins with site-specific signage for organics (compost), recycling, and garbage (refuse) only receptacles, effectively reducing the number of landfill pick-ups each week.