The recycling program was the very first thing I started at Aragon at the beginning of last school year. At Aragon, there is no budget for recycling and no personnel devoted to maintaining any sort of program (!!!!!). So, the principal Mr. Kirk Black, who has been nothing but supportive of all my attempts to green the school, was able to get yellow, stackable recycling bins for each classroom from the company that hauls our recyclables (it's in their best interest for us to recycle; recycle=profit). With those in the classrooms, the all-student Recycling Club, which I started to run the program met and cut wholes in the tops of 20 large, rolling, 96-gallon toters (try contacting your recycling hauler to get these, or if you don't have a recycling hauler, your trash company). I then had about a hundred signs (click
here to download) reading "NO TRASH" on bright green paper in sheet protectors, which we affixed to all four sides plus the tops of each bin with duct tape (DO NOT use any other type of tape; it will fall off . . . trust me). Because we only had about 35 active members in the club, with two paired to each bin, we could not handle all the classroom bins
plus the classroom bins. So, we asked all the teachers to kindly have a student or aide empty their classroom bins in the dumpster, while our people took care of the common area, outdoors bins. To combat the general ignorance in recycling things (it is much more widespread than I ever believed), we printed factoid signs on that same hi-vis green paper, put them in sheet protectors, and hung them throughout school. It seemed to work, because the quality of recycling improved as the year wore on.
In order to encourage students to join the Club, I promised a spectacular year-end party of tasty, organic food. Next year, for more incentive, we plan on going to the beach to do some clean-up, then play the rest of the day. In case you haven't sensed it yet, the catch is money. Although we had some, our spending (sheet protectors, duct tape, gloves, party, etc.) was unsustainable. So, after talking to our trash management company, janitors, and disposal company and after measuring the dimensions of our two recycling dumpsters, I calculated the savings to the District for us having recycled so much. We plan to go to the School Board next fall to request just a portion of the $4,800 we saved them this year to help fund our operations. (If you would like to calculate this for your school, I'd be happy to help).
Click on the following to download some of what I have made. Feel free to edit and use at your own school or work place (please just let me know!):
- Various factoid adverts:
- Educational chart I had blown up to a poster to educate the uneducated
- Map I used to organize members according to their bins (I started with a blank map on an overhead transparency when we had our first meeting, and members chose their bins)
One place to start in looking for help is your local county agency dedicated to recycling. If your county/city has none :( then use mine. RecycleWorks is a great organization with an amazing website. a link to which can be found on the right side of your screen.
If you have no recycling in your town, contact your garbage hauler and see if they have a program. If they don't, then insist they start one. Recycling is one of the most simple and straightforward ways to fix the mess this planet is in. Not recycling at all is not just wrong but also immoral.
