Great info. the last week on signage for recycling. I have a couple of related questions. We are a California City (pop'l 130,000) about an hour north of Los Angeles.
We have a grant from the state to place recycling bins and infrastructure at 28 K-12 schools (appx. 21,000 kids). The grant is focused on bottles and cans (bottle bill) and we are required to target an 80% recovery rate. Classroom trash will now go straight to the recycle bin for sorting. We will primarily be concerned with common area collection points - gym, quad, food areas, etc. We will do a waste sort at three schools at the start to get a baseline on material volumes. We plan on having parent groups at elementary schools take charge (fingers crossed) and student groups at the middle and high school level and they will keep the revenue. We have built a website to show totals from each school and use to promote competition. We will use per capita so it is fair for the smaller schools and will also break into elementary, middle and high school bands for comparison.
We have some money for promotion/premiums - but at this point we don't have the capability of giving thousands to winning schools. Recycling at home is embedded in the community with strong recycling rates and low contamination. We also have minimal language/cultural issues to navigate. The school district is very supportive, but we cannot add to the custodians workload.
1. Are you familiar with any large competitions that are suitable to use to motivate in a district like this.
2. Any suggestions for getting the students participation and minimizing contamination.
3. Bandit Recyclers. We will be providing sheds for storage, but it is probably not feasible for the kids to pick up everyday. Any suggestions on methods or signage that would minimize freelance recycling. This is the one are where we would have multiple languages (4-5 different languages).
Thoughts on "Don't steal our kids future - money from these recyclables helps fund school programs".
Advice & links are welcome - we launch in September!
John Brooks
Sr. Analyst
City of Thousand Oaks
United States
www.toaks.org/GoGreen
Large Scale School Recycling Program
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Hi John,
Congratulations on your program - it sounds like an exciting initiative. Although I work in a northern Canadian community, I think some of our experiences may be helpful.
First, do everything you can to avoid having one teacher spearheading the initiatives in their school. We have seen this cause burn out time and time again and then we end up starting from scratch. Even a committee of teachers, parents and students will need to be rotated. Consider recycling as a leadership class responsibility for a year at a time?
Second, get all of the students involved. We recommend a "recycling period" of five minutes after lunch when students sort out their items into recycling, garbage and sometimes compost piles and then a rotating runner takes the recycling to the central collection point. This helps make recycling behaviour part of the overall culture of the school.
Third, I love Kirstin's idea of having students design the signage - obviously the more engaged they are the more successful your program will be. I don't think that thousands is necessary for prizes; maybe the PACs/PTAs would be willing to match their fundraising dollars towards a larger item, library books, or a school event.
Last, other's have touched on this as well - we have emphasized that the work load for janitorial staff is not really increasing with the introduction of recycling programs. Ultimately, it's the same amount of refuse to deal with and just a different process.
Good luck!
Karen Mason-Bennett
Program Coordinator
NEAT
Canada
Bill - thanks for the clarification. Each individual school determines how they want to do the collection, but I will include the concept in our list of ways they can improve their overall system.
Kirsten - Thanks for the graphics tip - I see some of those that we will probably use for other programs as well.
Elisa, We are working with the custodians on several levels since many of them are doing their own recycling and may not be happy about the funds being diverted elsewhere. The mandate we have from the district is that the custodians workload not be impacted so we are placing the collection and redemption with student groups who will then benefit from the funds collected. This is working at several of our schools already - we will see how well it works at scale and varying levels of commitment. I suspect the level of interest may correlate with the money raised.
If anyone has tips on smoothing the transition among the custodians that have been getting the funds, please let me know. We are going to work at including them in the process, acknowledging their importance at the school and that they are a key part of the team effort.
Thanks for everyone's suggestions.
John Brooks
Sr. Analyst
City of Thousand Oaks
United States
www.toaks.org/GoGreen
RecycleMania is now available for all grade levels, not just post-secondary. You can find more information about RecycleMania at www.recyclemaniacs.org.
I don't think any signage will deter scavangers. I suggest pulling the recycling containers inside at night, full or empty. They'll stop coming around when they learn it is a waste of time.
Each location will be different; I suggest discussing it with the head custodian at each site to figure out what will work at that school. You will also get better results if you include them in the planning; not only will it show them some respect, but they know how to get things done efficiently. If you have central locations for the collection of mixed recycling from the classrooms, they won't have to empty them nightly. That will save them some work.
You already have the CRV worked out. Have separate collection containers in the classrooms and lunch areas for CRV that are serviced by your work teams. Even the students in the elementary schools can help with supervision from a teacher or parents.
Elisa Moberly
San Joaquin County Public Works, Solid Waste Division
United States
Hi there,
Regarding signs for waste bins and conserving resources: we did a contest amongst art school students called "Signs for Sustainability" and I wanted to send the link as a resource, even though the signs are not geared for schools. They are geared for cafes and restaurants, but some are quite creative and could be used in other buildings or businesses, schools, etc. They are also FREE, so please go ahead and download one or more! Here's the link: http://greencafenetwork.org/contest/
All the best,
Kirstin Henninger
Founding Director
Green Cafe Network
www.greencafenetwork.org
[email protected]
415-407-6987
John, I'm actually in an office building. But though I recognize there are differences, the model is repeatable. In my case individuals were responsible for thier own discards. In a school a teacher could be responsible, or more realistically a student could volunteer to periodically visit the nearest location. There were some grumblings. But they were minimal and stopped after a matter of weeks. Prior to rollout, we held a couple informational workships to help folks understand the system. We were available for questions. And the benefits of this program make sense.
Bill Miller
Environmental Scientist
Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control
United States
www.recycling.delaware.gov
Thanks Jean and Katy,
We actually did a video contest last year in anticipation of this grant and have three videos that ended up being usable. For clarification the slogan was not intended for the kids - it is to stop theft of the recyclables. We have used lockable bins before and they devise pickers that allow them to access through the top. So one of our incentives is that the kids get the money from the recyclables, but we need to figure out how to reduce the theft or they won't see any money and may lose interest.
John Brooks
Sr. Analyst
City of Thousand Oaks
United States
www.toaks.org/GoGreen
Hi Bill, thanks for comment and interesting concept. I am assuming teachers then became responsible and either did themselves or assigned a student. Was there pushback from the teachers on this change? Thanks
John Brooks
Sr. Analyst
City of Thousand Oaks
United States
www.toaks.org/GoGreen
John,
Resonating with me is your comment on not adding to janitors workloads. We've implemented a centralized collection system in our building that janitors service but we didn't add to thier workload. Maybe this model would be helpful. Basically we added centralized trash and recycling centers throughout the building. Each had one, 65 gal (single-stream)recycling bin and one, 35 gal trash bin. We worked with janitors to stop servicing individual offices and rooms and only servicing the centralized locations (and bathrooms or common rooms). I'd happily share more details with you, but the point is it actually reduces janitorial service time. And more importantly, by having the recycling bin next to the trash bin and not separate, it improves participation and reduces contamimation.
Good Luck,
~Bill
Bill Miller
Environmental Scientist
Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control
United States
www.recycling.delaware.gov
Keep America Beautiful has an annual school recycling competition that could fit with your goals. Info here: www.recycle-bowl.org
Check with the hauler/service provider who will be accepting your recyclable materials. They may be willing to kick in some prizes as incentives for the students and staff too.
You might be able to get some teachers to work with kids to make short (30-60 second) videos to air on morning announcements to get kids fired up and talking about it. Kids like doing videos, they can practice and tape it in one take with technology many kids already have, and kids respond better to things other kids tell them they should do than things adults tell them thye should do. ie. Use peer pressure in your favor.
Katy Duggan-Haas
Sustainability Program Coordinator
Modern Recycling
United States
The slogan has to be a positive spin, shaping their behavior or inspiring with an image. Try again. Engage a parent who works in advertising or marketing to help, or a college communications class. Conduct your own informal survey of 3 potential slogans and find out which one your clients like best!
Jean Eells
E Resources Group
United States
There are probably organizations near your schools that could help with prizes. We have a small zoo that does school assemblies, and they agreed to do one as a prize for a competition. We also have a professional hockey team and indoor soccer team; both teams said they would bring their mascot and a few players to a school.
Elisa Moberly
San Joaquin County Public Works, Solid Waste Division
United States