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Many jurisdictions have developed school district waste reduction program
assistance for their local school districts. The following examples may
provide ideas on how to establish effective partnerships between school
districts and local jurisdictions in your community.
City Programs
Gilroy
The City of Gilroy Web site provides information for
students and
teachers regarding
recycling opportunities at local schools. Recycling service is provided to
the City's schools along with the refuse service through the local garbage
company. Materials collected through the school-recycling program include
paper, lunch bags, cardboard, bottles and cans and even yard waste.
Students are also encouraged to start a compost bin with worms.
Glendale
Fourteen Glendale schools have been recognized for their outstanding
efforts in reducing, reusing, recycling and restoring the earth's valuable
resources. The schools, Cerritos, Fremont, College View, Mountain Avenue,
Monte Vista, Holy Family, Columbus, Edison, Franklin, Lincoln, RD White,
Glenoaks, Clark and Daily received Glendale Waste Watcher Awards (Adobe PDF, size not available) from the City's Integrated Waste Management Section. The awards presented are also recycled: Steel frames
cut from old refuse bin lids surrounded the certificates. Each school
developed unique methods of reducing waste including:
- No waste lunch campaigns
- Master gardener programs
- Vermicompost programs
- Battery recycling
- Ink cartridge recycling
- Cans for computers
- Sport shoe recycling
- Clothing drives
- School-wide recycling of paper, plastics, and metals
- Double-siding copies
- Notepads from old flyers
- Recycled art supplies
It is estimated that the recycling efforts in Glendale schools save an
estimated 200,000-300,000 pounds of resources annually from burial in
landfills. School recycling programs are successful because of the
dedication of students, teachers, parents, facilities and maintenance
staff, principals and administrators. They cannot be sustained without the
support of the entire school community. Other schools will be receiving
Waste Watcher Awards in the near future.
Livermore
The City of Livermore funds the Environmental Education for Kids (EEK!)
program that was first introduced to the students of the Livermore Valley
Unified School District in 1995. The city has funded the program since its
inception through allocation of Measure D funds. The primary focus of EEK!
is the education of Livermore students about solid waste issues and to
assist every school in diverting and reducing their own solid waste by use
of the 4 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.
All Livermore public schools are eligible to receive EEK! funding to
use for classroom presentations, field trips, and assembly programs about
solid waste issues. EEK! funds have also been used for the construction
and improvement of school gardens, recycling collection and storage
systems, composting education and equipment, and school recycling
coordinators. See the Alameda County Solid Waste Authority's fall 2001
School Recycling
News for more information.
Modesto
The City of Modesto Solid Waste Management Office works closely with school districts, teachers, and students to educate their youth about environmental issues and to provide important recycling services to the
community as well as to the schools. The programs and services available
include classroom presentations, high school awards and funding to promote
recycling on campuses, reuse opportunities, and more.
Palo Alto
The
City of Palo Alto’s School Recycling Program works closely with the
Palo Alto Unified School District (PAUSD) and parent or teacher volunteers
to assist with and maintain recycling programs in all schools. The City's
recycling program staff offer to help schools identify waste streams,
suggest waste reduction strategies, assist in establishing recycling
programs, recycling collection and student education. The staff are also
available for presentations and school fairs.
San Bernardino
The
School Paper Recycling Program
is one of San Bernardino's citywide commercial recycling services. This
program is available to schools within the San Bernardino City limits that
are serviced for refuse by the City Refuse and Recycling Division. A wide
variety of paper fiber materials are accepted in this program: all colors
of office paper, newspaper and phonebooks, cardboard, and even magazine
stock. Color coasters and laminated posters of this list are provided by
the City to all staff and classrooms. The City Refuse and Recycling
Division also provides clearly labeled, bright blue plastic indoor
collection containers, and lockable commercial recycling bins to
participating schools. To "close the loop," the City also encourages
schools purchase products with a minimum 20% "postconsumer"
recycled-content. The City's Environmental Projects Division also provides
two copies of an Environmental Education Guide to all schools within the
San Bernardino City Unified School District to incorporate these
activities into classroom instruction and to help participating schools
learn more about resource conservation. This guide has a selection of
projects, curricula, low or no-cost resources, and presentations available
in a variety of environmental subjects to teachers.
San Diego
The City of San Diego has a comprehensive environmental education
component for all grade levels of San Diego city schools. The three
components include providing
technical assistance to schools requesting
help in designing and implementing school-wide recycling programs, making
classroom educational presentations several hundred times each year, and,
as a celebration of Earth Month, hosting the students' environmental fair.
The city won a
TrashCutters Award from the CIWMB in 2000 for its program.
San Francisco
The
City and
County of San Francisco provides technical assistance to all public and private schools in San
Francisco to start and expand recycling programs. This assistance includes recycling bins and
containers; an organics program to collect all food, paper, and yard
waste; field trips; an awards program; a resource library, newsletters, and more!
San Francisco is one of the first cities in to nation to implement an
Organics Collection Program at K-12 schools. This groundbreaking program
called "Food
to Flowers!" involves collecting leftover food and soiled paper during
school lunches. These leftovers get turned into compost instead of being
dumped into local landfills.
San Jose
The San Jose Go Green Schools
Program fosters school recycling and environmental stewardship in a
parent- and community-driven process. The Program was launched in 2005
and has received permanent funding from the City of San Jose. It is
partnered with the Go Green Initiative--an innovative, comprehensive
environmental program for K-12 schools endorsed by the City of San Jose's City Council.
The San Jose Go Green Schools Program provides both web-based and
hands-on technical assistance to schools, including information about
how to get started, free recycling containers for paper and beverage
bottle/can recycling, and a
Resource Directory for developing environmental activities on campus. The City also hosts an annual
Environmental Conference for teachers, parents, students and members of
the community to learn more about the Go Green Schools Program and how
it can be applied. Additionally,
Go Green Mini-Grants provide financial assistance to San Jose K-12 public and private schools to help
establish, maintain or expand on-campus recycling or composting
programs, or other sustainable environmental programs.
Santa Monica
The City of Santa Monica partners with schools to make mixed paper
collection a success. The city’s mixed paper program was implemented to
address the large volume of paper in the waste stream coming from
multifamily residences and businesses. In addition, schools were seen as
ideal candidates for participation due to the large amount of waste paper
generated by campuses and the minimal sorting the program required. The
school program was marketed to administrators as an alternative to the
practice of landfilling, an opportunity for student leadership and
community stewardship, and as a vehicle to incorporate recycling themes
into a science-based curriculum in the classroom. For additional
information about this program, see the
spring 1998 issue of the
CIWMB's Reusable School News.
Sunnyvale
The
City
of Sunnyvale provides waste reduction, recycling, and buying recycled
information and resources (e.g., curriculum, activities and games, books,
grants, SMART Station tours, and links) to its schools, teachers, and
students. For example, schools in Sunnyvale who have garbage service
through the city's franchised garbage hauler, Specialty Solid Waste and
Recycling, are eligible to participate in the city's recycling program at
no charge. Additionally, staff from schools in Sunnyvale can attend a
city-sponsored compost workshop at no charge. The city also partnered with
local schools to collect
athletic shoes for recycling at their annual walk-a-thons.
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County Programs
Alameda County
The Alameda County Waste Management Authority & Source Reduction Board
offers a wide variety resources
for Alameda County teachers and schools. All resources are
available free of charge. Resources include field trips, newsletters,
guides, grants, videos, compost bins/boxes, contests and more!
Unincorporated areas of Contra Costa County and the City of Oakley
The
Environmental Action Program for Schools (EAPS) is a free program for schools located in the unincorporated areas of Contra Costa County and
the City of Oakley designed to help school children of all ages (K-12)
become more aware of the environment through easily accomplished actions
and activities that take place at school. To participate, individual
schools, including students, teachers and staff, undertake activities that
fall in four of the Action Areas listed below. The activities are designed
to help instill new environmentally beneficial behaviors in students and
all involved. Schools are certified as an 'Environmental Action School'
when they have completed activities that can help the environment in at
least four of the Action Areas.
Schools choose activities from four of the eight activity Action Areas below:
- Recycle
- Letter Campaign
- Buy Recycled
- Environmental Curriculum
- Less Toxic
- Become a Collection Site (fund raiser)
- Waste Prevention
- School Composting
Schools can also request to design their own Action Area as a
substitute for one or more of the above.
Merced
Through a grant from the Department of Conservation, Division of
Recycling, the County of Merced began the
model schools recycling program in the summer of 2000. The Merced
County Regional Recycling Program administers this project through Merced
County Association of Governments (MCAG). The intent of the program is to
implement on-campus recycling programs to collect recyclable commodities,
buy recycled content products and obtain measurable results from the
program. The MCAG maintains a list of the model school districts and
schools with program descriptions, including a photo gallery. MCAG is
seeking additional schools within Merced County who are interested in
participating in the model school program.
Nevada County
The
County of Nevada is working on a district-wide recycling program for
Fall 2003. The program will include technical recycling assistance,
setting up all schools with mixed paper, beverage container, and even
composting programs.
San Mateo County
The
“Recycle Works” schools program in the County of San Mateo focuses on educating young people and
the community about the problems and solutions of solid waste management
and how a school can model a good resource conservation program by
implementing a recycling and waste prevention program. The program offers
ideas about educating student through presentations, field trips, and
workshops, setting up a school recycling program and how to do a waste
audit with students. The City also maintains an excellent school recycling
guide and recognizes school or school district recycling leaders through
an annual award program. Awards are given to schools, administrators,
students and/or parents who demonstrate excellence in creating or
expanding a recycling program or who initiate a recycling project within
the school community or district to increase awareness of resource
conservation. RecycleWorks is additionally one of 26 recycling
organizations nationwide that participated in the
shoe
recycling program developed by Nike and the National Recycling
Coalition (NRC).
Santa Barbara County
Santa
Barbara County Solid Waste and Utilities Division offers technical
assistance in implementing recycling programs at educational facilities.
In addition to offering free assistance in designing and implementing a
successful recycling program for its schools and school districts, the
county's recycling and waste prevention education program provides
classroom presentations for K-6 grades and offer tours of the Tijiguas
Landfill, the Santa Barbara County Transfer Station, and the Health
Sanitation Services Recycling Facility (Material Recovery Facility).
Ventura County
The Ventura County Solid Waste Management Department
(SWMD) is committed to helping reduce waste in all
of Ventura County’s K-12 schools. The SWMD Model Schools’ Program
provides assistance to reduce waste in classrooms and business offices,
lower operating costs by instituting the best integrated waste management
practices and create sustainable school reuse, recycling, and composting
programs. County staff also encourage the use of integrated pest
management and less toxic vegetation and weed control measures.
Joint Power Authorities
Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority
The Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority (CCCSWA) through its
contractor, TRG & Associates, offers
technical assistance to implement and/or enhance school recycling
programs in its service area. The agency provides a variety of tools to
educate and inform teachers and students about recycling and source
reduction. The recommended approach involves "how to" instructions, as
well as various methods for teaching the importance of recycling both at
school and home. CCCSWA acknowledges that many teachers and staff are short
on time and resources; therefore, this program was designed with this in
mind. Currently, TRG is responsible for all coordination, and organization
of workshops, assemblies, contests, and available resources to help ensure
that recycling and waste prevention education is implemented.
The CCCSWA also recognizes and rewards schools for reducing and
recycling waste and encourages continuous improvement through the "Wastebusters"
School Certification Program. A "Wastebuster" certified school practices
environmental stewardship of its own environment and serves as a model for
the surrounding community. The cornerstone of the "Wastebusters"
Certification Program is the recycling and waste prevention activities,
decreasing landfill disposal.
West Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority
The West
Contra Costa Integrated Waste Management Authority provides its school
community valuable information and tools to reduce waste, save natural
resources, and teach valuable lessons at the same time. This site offers
information on the benefits of and steps to start school recycling and
vermicomposting programs, as well as teacher resources (e.g. curricula,
grants, field trips) and links for students.
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