Grafton High student hopes to reduce e-waste

Grafton High School junior Elizabeth Torteson hopes to play at least a small role in saving the planet.

Her mission continues Wednesday night at Grafton High, when she will hold a 6:30 p.m. session on reducing electronic waste in preparation, she hopes, for a future e-waste drive.

“I really hope to make a big ecological footprint in my life, just because the environment is so important to me,” Torteson said.

Torteson conceived the project in teacher Hayley Molinaro’s environmental science class at the high school. Last month, the pair went to Boston for the Project Lead the Way STEM Challenge, where students presented their zero-waste solutions.

Torteson didn’t expect to be among 60,000 students in grades K-12 picked for the project. She also didn’t expect to be the only girl working on a project alone.

“I had all these people coming up to me saying ‘you’re so brave to be doing this by yourself,'” Torteson said with a laugh.

In her session Wednesday, Torteson will discuss what e-waste is, why it’s bad for the environment and how to properly dispose of it. She will also discuss how to remove personal information and take question from the audience.

Public speaking isn’t a challenge for her. She’s also presented the project at Girls Inc. in Worcester.

She has also created an Instagram page, @no.more.ewaste.

“I want to help my community as much as possible,” Torteson said.