Finally! We've Gone Green!
School recycling program up & running
by Lonye Gilles
April 16, 2009
After weeks of
planning, things are finally in place for us to begin our school
recycling! We are working with ADS, the school’s disposal service,
to do our share to help our environment by recycling items that
would normally take up space in landfills.
We are doing single stream or co-mixed recycling, which means we do not have to sort the items to be recycled. Everything that we recycle can go into the same bins in our classrooms, and be dumped together into the outside receptacle. This makes it easier for all of us to do their share to make Planet Earth a healthier home for everyone. Instead of throwing those plastic water bottles or yogurt containers in the garbage can, they can go into the recycling bin with paper, cardboard, and soda cans.
With just a
little effort by everyone, we are working to make this a very
successful program. Almost everything we use in our classrooms or
workrooms can be recycled, so instead of throwing it into the waste
basket it gets tossed it into the recycling bin. It's a
no-brainer!
We have a pick-up system at the grade school that involves a group of responsible junior high students. Once a week, the teachers set their recycling bins in the hall, and at 1:00 the recycling team goes around the building emptying those bins into big wheeled containers. When those are full, the students roll them outside to be dumped into the receptacle provided by ADS.
We are careful
to make sure that the recycling bins in the rooms are not
contaminated with non-recyclables such as dirty tissues,
construction paper, manila envelopes, cellophane, or food items. It
is taking a bit of retraining on the part of some who are used to
just throwing everything in the garbage, but by the end of the
school year we hope everyone is in the habit of tossing those
recyclables into the proper place.
This is a great opportunity for our school to help the environment as well as set great examples and educate our students in the importance of recycling. If you would like to begin home recycling, Brimfield Public Library has 2 co-mingled receptacles in their front parking lot for public use. Recycling is a great community service that has long lasting rewards to our environment.
