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Success Story: Tahoma Middle School
School District: Tahoma
School Location: Maple Valley
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: October 2007
Level One of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in December 2009
Waste Reduction and Recycling
- Tahoma Middle School increased its recycling rate from 20 percent to 33 percent by expanding and improving waste reduction and recycling practices.
- School staff initiated a lunchroom recycling program for milk cartons, aluminum cans and plastic bottles.
- At the beginning of each school year, students are educated about proper recycling practices and staff is trained in a staff meeting presentation.
- Students placed recycling stickers on all recycling containers. Provided by the Green Schools Program, the stickers list what can and can’t be recycled.
- The school implemented a box and envelope reuse program for the school district. Manila envelopes and cardboard boxes are now saved and sent back to the district for reuse.
- Office manager Linda Clarke worked with the Buckley Nursery to get 13 trees for the campus. To purchase the trees, the student body raised money by selling Earth Day t-shirts. Clarke organized a student planting, which consisted of 25 Green Team students and five staff members, for an Earth Day 2009 effort aimed at engaging students in reducing their carbon footprints.
- Tahoma Middle School staff and students are creating posters demonstrating the school’s contributions over the past three years toward waste reduction, recycling and reusing materials. Posters will be judged and displayed in local businesses.
- In 2010 all students and staff will set recycling goals that will be incorporated in a pledge certificate that will be printed on recycled paper for each person. Pledge certificates will be posted throughout the school. After completing their pledge, each student will receive a reusable water bottle that will serve as helpful reminders to conserve and recycle at school. The project will end with an Earth Day assembly at which the school will celebrate its successes and pledge to continue efforts to shrink the school’s carbon footprint.
For more information about this school’s conservation achievements and participation in the Green Schools Program, contact:
Paul Gardner, assistant principal
E-mail: pgardner@tahomasd.us
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