Solid waste reduction
LUNCHROOM RECYCLING
Our students have made Improving the habits in our lunchroom a key goal. They run the recycling center every day, helping students recycle and learn about responsible recycling. They make classroom announcements, whole-school announcements, power-point presentations, videos, and posters teaching the community about reducing, reusing and recycling in the lunchroom. In the first month of our recycling center opening, our lunchroom garbage went from 15 bags per day to 9 bags per day- a 40% decrease right away. Now, a year-and-a-half later, we average 5-6 bags of garbage per day. Again, we have more work to do, but have made GREAT strides. |
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WE MUST DO BETTER!
After putting our lunchroom recycling program into place, it has been a whole different project to increase the awareness, the participation, and the level of investment. Our students assist their daily in deciding what should NOT go into the landfills. The Green Team students make announcements frequently. One fourth grader decided to make a power point presentation to make Terracycling and recycling abundantly clear. A fifth grade teacher set the presentation up in the cafeteria to run for the entire day. The Green Team noticed much more successful participation immediately following. It is a work in progress. We know we can do better. We also know that every step forward is helpful to our planet. |
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CLASSROOM REDUCING, REUSING AND RECYCLING
While recycling is an important goal in classrooms, our students feel that reducing both energy consumption and paper consumption are more valuable messages. They also began a glue stick recycling campaign. They have made videos, power-points, multiple classroom announcements, and multiple all-school announcements. They are passionate about teaching the school that recycling paper in the classroom is good, but using both sides of the paper and not ever making the copies are better ways to help the environment. |
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POLYSTYRENE ISSUES! 500 TRAYS PER DAY?! Another pair of students wrote a letter to the head of the food program in Howard County Public Schools. She agreed to meet with the third graders. After their meeting, she agreed to mandate use of the trays for 4 of our 7 lunches for the remainder of the year (spring 2013). In fall of 2013, the school system changed to trays that can either be recycled or composted, as long as the food waste stuck to the trays is limited. We are no longer allowed to use the reusable trays. The new trays are currently mostly being recycled, and we are still working to create means for less contamination of trays to allow for more recycling. Ideally composting will be a roadside option soon. |
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TURN THE TABLES-
STUDENTS HOSTING A STAFF MEETING In the spring of 2013, a few 4th and 5th grade students hosted a staff meeting to teach the staff about what to recycle and why, from paper in the classroom to water bottles everywhere. The students led the meeting from start to finish and accepted questions from their audience. |
YUCK! TOO MUCH POLYSTYRENE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT DOES? A group of fourth graders became extremely concerned that we were averaging 500 polystyrene trays sent to the landfills EVERY DAY from our school. And, we had reusable trays sitting in our kitchen. One student researched the dangers of styrofoam and shared it with the community over announcements. |