Northfield Community School Solves Recycling Equation
By Sara Verrillo
Northfield Community
School recently expanded its recycling program in an exemplary effort among students,
faculty and custodial staff.
After Superintendent
Robert Gargulio called for the formation of a school-wide green team, Janice
Dye, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, spearheaded the recycling
initiative with help from teachers and custodians.
Collection
Process
To kick off the
initiative, the school supplied every classroom with posters provided by ACUA
and a small recycling bin, some of which are labeled cardboard boxes decorated
by students.
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After some trial and
error, the group found an efficient method of collecting recyclables throughout
the school. Students from Ms. Heenan’s third grade class collect all the rooms
from the elementary school located on the first floor while students from Ms.
O’Connor’s eighth grade class collect from middle school classrooms on the
second floor.
Every Tuesday and
Thursday, students take about 10 minutes to collect bins from classrooms and
empty the contents into 95-gallon recycling carts.

“We started with two
95-gallon bins for the whole school and realized we needed two for each floor because
one collection was overfilling the bins,” said Ms. Dye.
The school now fills
four 95-gallon bins twice a week.

Once recycling
collection is completed on each floor, custodians transport the carts outside
where ACUA collects every Wednesday and Friday. Once collected, custodians
bring the carts back to the centralized locations on each floor.
In addition to the
95-gallon carts, the school also has a 4-yard recycling container to collect
materials, like cardboard boxes or plastic containers, generated by the
kitchen.

Next
Steps
One challenge they are
working on is contamination in bins located in the cafeteria. After seeing many
sandwiches thrown in along with bottles and cans, the administration decided to
remove the lunchroom bins and focus on classroom recycling first. Once the
students are acclimated to the materials they are allowed to recycle, they plan
to reintroduce bins in the cafeteria.
The school's
initiatives have also caught the attention of Northfield City Council, which
the school plans to work with in forming a community wide green team.
How
Is Your School Doing?
Does your school need
assistance in overcoming challenges to recycling? Let us know! We can help.
Below is a short video
put together by Northfield Community School that further explains their
recycling initiative.