Recycling at Home an Update

By Judy Turriff, Project Coordinator, OCDSB

In September 2004, one of the Grade 5 classes at Stittsville Public School had almost no metal or plastic in their garbage or recycling bins by day's end. This fall the students from grades 1 to 5, about 500 in all, will participate in the 'Recycling at Home' program. This means that in every classroom while students are eating or drinking beside their open lunch bag, everything but 'drainables' goes back into the lunch bag to be recycled, composted or disposed of at home. 'Drainables' are first drained into the sink and then even those containers go home.

John Todd, a teacher at Stittsville, is proud of the program and is very pleased that an initiative that began in his classroom has now been adopted by the school. When I met with him and his Principal in late September the school had just launched the program. Presentations had been made to the students, staff and School Council. John had conducted a lunch time garbage audit and was able to demonstrate the necessity of such a program.

The school is committed to the program because 'Recycling at Home' gives these benefits:

  1. At home, without the rush for recess, the children can learn to make more effective recycling choices a habit.
  2. Less material goes to to the landfill because recycling can be done better at home and some families compost.
  3. The cost to the School Board to handle and truck away garbage and recyclable material is reduced.
  4. Parents can see what has not been eaten.
  5. Milk and juice no longer drip from garbage bags at school.

This is another great example of people working together to make a difference. For more information on the program you can contact John at John_Todd@ocdsb.ca

https://www.earthcarecanada.com/EarthCARE_News_and_Events/OCDSB/stittsville_2.asp?CID=33