For the past four years, the Piney Branch Elementary School community and its young activists have been advocating for the elimination of polystyrene cafeteria trays and plastic utensils.

Instead, the Takoma Park school wanted a dishwasher.

Although the Montgomery County Board of Education is not yet willing to make Piney Branch a dish-washing pilot school, members agreed Monday to take a closer eye at the carbon footprint of the school system as a whole.

“We are disappointed the board of education has opted for inaction on styrofoam trays over support for a student-initiated project that is fully funded and could potentially save MCPS money,” said Brenda Platt, parent co-leader of the Young Activist Club at Piney Branch.

Under a resolution introduced by board member Christopher S. Barclay (Dist. 4) of Takoma Park and approved unanimously by board members, the school system will develop and recommend to the school board a plan to reduce the system’s carbon footprint and, each year, the administration is required to report on its progress.

Barclay said it still is possible that the school system will decide to make Piney Branch a pilot school for a dishwasher, but it is not the board’s role to make that decision.

Instead, the board can monitor the school system’s waste as a whole, he said.