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Success Story: Discovery Elementary School
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Discovery Elementary School
(click image to enlarge)
Discovery students with bags containing 657 pounds of plastic bottles collected for recycling. This effort was recognized by Guinness Book of World Records for the most plastic bottles collected in eight hours. |
School District: Issaquah
School Location: Sammamish
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: In 2005-06, then again in April 2009
Level one of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in December 2009
Waste Reduction and Recycling
- Discovery Elementary School maintains a recycling rate of 65 percent and was able to reduce its garbage and recycling collection costs by 58 percent.
- Students and staff are dedicated to recycling throughout the school, a result of Discovery’s longstanding effort to actively promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
- In 2008, with assistance from the City of Issaquah, the school started to recycle food scraps. In the lunchroom, students place food scraps and other compostable materials into a composting container that is collected by Cedar Grove Composting. Students then place other recyclable materials such as plastic bottles into a recycling container.
- As a result, Discovery reduced the size of its outdoor garbage container from eight yards picked up twice a week to six yards picked up once a week, decreasing the cost of garbage disposal by 58 percent.
- All classrooms have compost buckets for snack food scraps and most classrooms have paper reuse trays for one-sided paper.
- From 2005 to 2009, each class had two Green Team representatives who attended monthly meetings about school environmental issues and then reported back to their classrooms with the information they learned.
- In the fall of 2009, all students had the opportunity to take part in the Discovery Great Green Challenge which includes monthly activities to help Discovery students and families implement “green” actions in their homes. This brings the learning at school to the community.
- Students participated in the Cool School Challenge by conducting energy audits of each classroom. They then provided each class with suggestions on how to reduce its carbon footprint.
- Students placed stickers on indoor recycling containers throughout the school. Provided by the King County Green Schools Program, stickers list what can and can’t be recycled. In each class, students also placed reminder stickers to “Turn off the lights when you leave a room!”
- The school has outdoor recycling containers with durable recycling signs attached. Students monitor the containers and post specific signs to educate students and staff about what materials can and cannot be recycled.
- Discovery Elementary received recognition from the Guinness Book of World Records for the most plastic bottles collected in an eight hour period. A total of 657 pounds of plastic bottles was collected for recycling!
- Along with all schools in the Issaquah School District, Discovery’s lunchroom has eliminated the use of straws. With the help of the kitchen staff, Discovery’s lunchroom also changed from using polystyrene trays to reusable plastic trays.
Award
- 2008 King County Earth Hero at School award: Teachers Tasha Kirby and Sue McNamara received this award for guiding students to replace throwaway materials with washable tableware for classroom parties, starting a food scrap recycling program, and collecting plastic bags for recycling.
For more information about this school’s conservation achievements and participation in the Green Schools Program, contact:
Tasha Kirby, teacher
kirbyt@issaquah.wednet.edu
Sue Macnamara, teacher
macnamaras@issaquah.wednet.edu
Tera Coyle, principal
coylet@issaquah.wednet.edu
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