CLUBSchool Recycling Spring 2008

Providing the latest news to the school recycling community

Inside

The SchoolRecycling CLUB is a

project of the NortheastResource Recovery Associa-

tion (NRRA), a proactive non-profit cooperative

working to make recycling programs efficient and financially successful.

www.nrra.net

The SchoolRecycling CLUB

- Since 1998 -

110,495 StudentsInvolved!

- 1 -Battery Event

Welcome to Kelly!Locker Clean-Out

- 2 -Member PROfiLES:Milford Middle SchoolAwarded For Efforts

- 3 -Recycling RamblingsCritical Thinking Kit

- 4 -How to join the CLUB

Quarterly

1Go to: www.schoolrecycling.net

Have you joinedTeam earTH yet? Find

out more by clicking on “awards”on The CLUB’s

web site.

www.schoolrecycling.net

*T.E.A.M. = Team Earth Activity Manual.Whenever you see this acronym, it means you can earn points towardsour TeaM earTh awards Program by completing this activity.

+

Not many people know that batteries can be recycled, so this is your chance to get the word out. Get the teachers and students in your school together and set up a day to collect old batteries. Now is the time to start planning!

1). Find out if your local transfer station or recycling facility accepts batteries. If they don’t, arrange to drop them off at a nearby location. These other bat-tery collection sites can be found by going online and visiting: http://www.des.state.nh.us/nhppp/UW/batteries_home.htm

2). Go to the CLUB’s website and download a pre-designed flyer to advertise your event. Just add your event date and information.

3). Reuse boxes to collect the batteries. Make signs that say “Recycle your old batteries here.” Ask your transfer station what kinds of batteries they accept and post details on each box. 4). Collect the batteries! Ask teachers to offer extra credit for students who bring in batteries.

5). RECYCLE THEM. Set up a time to drop them off at your pre-arranged location. Make sure to record the event with pictures! Let the CLUB know about your achievement so we can help you get the word out in local papers. The CLUB would also like to highlight you in the next newsletter.

Have a Positive AffectOn a Negative Situation

Unlock Hidden Recyclables

[ Team earTh acTiviTy = 10 PoinTs ]

The CLUB is pleased to an-nounce the appointment of our new CLUB coordinator Kelly

Pearson. Kelly hails from Allenstown, NH and comes to the CLUB with a great deal of enthusiasm and expertise.

She has an extensive background in marketing, public relations, graphic design and has worked in several non-profit organizations. She has a B.A. in English/Journalism and has enrolled in the MBA program at Southern NH University. Kelly started at the CLUB on March 3rd and has already moved to the “front of the class” by taking ALL the CLUB details and logistics in stride.

Please join us in welcoming Kelly to NRRA’s extended family at the School Recycling CLUB.

Please WelcomeKelly Pearson!

New CLUB CoordiNator

The School Recycling CLUB has the perfect tool for a school-wide locker clean-out day! Reserve one of the CLUB’s RecycleMobiles for fREE! Make sure you encourage students to recycle cans, bottles and other recyclables that may be hidden in those lockers. This is a FREE benefit to all CLUB members. All you need is a vehicle with a trailer hitch. For more information, contact Kelly at (603) 736-4401.

host a Locker Clean-Out Day!

hold a Battery recycling event![ Team earTh acTiviTy = 8 PoinTs ]

2 Go to: www.schoolrecycling.net

recycling Program Operated by: Milford Middle School recycling Club

MeMBeR SChooL PRofILeSMilford Middle School - Milford, NH

Twice a week, Milford Middle School Recycling Club scours the halls in search of recycling bins to be emptied. About 20 students give up their free period to take on the task of collecting paper. Along the way they are greeted with smiling faces, thank you’s and sometimes even a piece of candy or two. But this isn’t why they do it.

“It’s better for the earth,” says one student. “We know what we’re doing is right,” another adds.

Milford Middle School has been recycling for three years and the program was started by students with the help of art teacher Diane Varney-Parker. The club was started when a student questioned why the school didn’t recycle. Varney-Parker asked the student to come back during a free period and to bring some

friends along. A bunch of students showed up for the meeting, and they began brainstorming how to get the program started.

First, they went to the administration who agreed to purchase a recycling bin for each room. Then, they made posters to explain what could be recycled and started educating the student body through announcements. Now, the club has many excited and dedicated students who collect the paper and roll the bin to the janitor’s office to be emptied.

In addition to recycling paper and cardboard, the students have placed a recycling bin in their lunchroom to collect water bottles. They even collect yogurt containers too! They estimate that since November, they have recycled 1,900 water bottles and over 1,000 yogurt containers!

Now there are three groups of students, by grade, who collect the recyclables for the school. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday in Mrs. Varney-Parker’s room and then disperse to collect the paper. They quietly enter the rooms where classes are in session to get the recycle bins. Each small bin is emptied into a large rolling bin that makes for super easy collection.

In addition to recycling, the students are also selling backyard compost bins to encourage composting of kitchen and yard waste at home. They purchased them through the Northeast Resource Recovery Association at a discounted rate and plan to sell them as a fundraiser. The proceeds from the funds raised will be used to further enhance their recycling efforts at school

Thank you Milford Middle School Recycling Club for your very hard work! Keep it up!

MILFoRDMIDDLESCHOOL

Grades: 6-8

Population: 635

Recycles: CardboardPaper, Plastics and

Yogurt Cups

L to R (back): Cheyenne Sirois, Anne Gindi, Amy AtkinsonL to R (front): Melody Horton and Vera Vaitones.

L to R: Diane Varney-Parker (teacher), Makayla O’Connor, Shelby Wheeler, Erik Rimalover and Robert Parker (kneeling).

Milford Middle School students are being awarded for their out-standing recycling efforts and their enthusiasm for spreading a “green” message throughout their community. The group is the first to earn a Bronze Award, and now the Silver, in The School Recycling CLUB’s TEAM Earth Awards Program!

The CLUB’s TEAM Earth Program is a project of the Northeast Resource Recovery As-sociation. TEAM Earth was developed to further educate and recognize CLUB members for the great recycling service they are providing to their school and ulti-mately to their commu-nity. The Milford Middle Recycling Club has done just that!

Led by teacher Diane Varney-Parker, the Milford Middle School Recycling Club has put forth the extra effort and gone beyond the basics of recycling. In addition to recycling paper, card-board, plastics and yogurt containers, the students have implemented many

Awardedfor Their

TEAM Earth RecyclingEfforts!

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Recycling Ramblings

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8 new & renewing members...Lakeland SchoolLoudon Elementary SchoolMerrimack Valley Middle SchoolRollinsford Grade SchoolBow Elementary SchoolBow High SchoolBow Memorial SchoolSamuel Morey Elementary School, Vt.

Please check the CLUB web site today at: www.schoolrecycling.net to make sure your

school’s information is included and accurate!

Welcome NewCLUB Members

Total CLUB Members to Date - 248Total Bins Distributed 2007-08 School Year - 1,000

Membershipto the CLUB

is FREE.Join Today!

CLUB Quarterly Spring 2008

Does yourschool needhelp gettingrecyclables picked up?

is your school on the Seacoast, in Nashua, Manchester, Concord or in the Lakes region of NH? The CLUB can help by connecting you with a vendor interested in providing schools with fREE pick-up of recyclables. For more in-formation call the CLUB at 603-736-4401 or email theclub@nrra.net.

(NOW in Southern NH!)

Good Luck Helga... Happy Trails to You!Well it’s time to say goodbye and pass on that #2 pencil to the next CLUB Coordinator. The NRRA staff will miss you Helga! A huge thank you goes out to Helga for re-boosting and leading the CLUB forward!

During Helga’s 2+ year leadership, the CLUB mem-bership has grown by another third and another 30,000 children ultimately got excited and involved in recycling. From creating the new web site and newslet-ter (with help from designer Kristie at NRRA) to co-creating the TEAM Earth program with NRRA’s former Executive Director Liz Bedard, we couldn’t have asked for more. Best of luck to you and your family on the west coast...we’ll miss you!

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You go to your favorite store to purchase a fun toy to bring to the beach. You spot a Frisbee nicely pack-aged with a colorful tag and sealed in plastic wrap. This would be the perfect activity for your day in the sun. Below it on a shelf is a similar one without all the packaging. Which one would you choose?

This is one of the questions that is posed in Eco-Cy-cle’s Waste Reduction Activity Kit that is available for use and FREE of charge through The School Recycling CLUB. The five-day program touches on many aspects of reducing, reusing and recycling, includ-ing the history of trash, the impact of landfills, and the process of recycling. The curriculum is interactive and includes props and activities that will engage middle school and high school students into thinking critically about how their daily routine affects the environment.

The program can be used in its entirety, or you can pick and choose activities to fit into your lesson plan. Included in the kit are in-depth instructions, over-heads, slides and a box full of props for the activities. A computer-savvy version is also available for those who wish to display pictures using a computer and projector.

To borrow a Waste Reductions Kit, contact Kelly at (603) 736-4401 ext. 17 or e-mail theclub@nrra.net.

The PERfECT Tool forTeaching Critical Thinking

waste redUCtioN aCtivity Kit

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Thank you to all the schools that participated in the annual Earth Day compost bin sale and supporting nature’s way of recycling. In total, sale participants

sold 1,540 compost bins!

Each composter di-verts approximately 500 pounds of organic matter from household waste per year, diverting it from collection, the landfill or incinerator. This year’s sale will help divert a total of over 770,000 pounds

of waste, which is the equivalent of 32 garbage trucks full of waste!

Congratulations to Bow High School, Gilford High School, Milford Middle School and New Durham El-ementary School who each sold at least 20 bins each!

If you’re interested in purchasing a bin or two this year there still may be a few available. Please contact the Northeast Resource Recovery Association by emailing your request to: info@nrra.net.

Please also consider helping your community reduce compost waste by organizing a backyard compost bin sale in 2009!

Compost Bin Sale an Eco-Success!

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The SchoolRecycling CLUB...

is a fREE school program, designed to be a fun, in-novative way to give kids en-couragement, direction, and networking possibilities for school recycling programs.

Benefits to joining include:• Hear the latest news about school recycling.• Gain statewide recogni- tion for your school’s recycling efforts.• increase partnerships between your community and your school.• Receive technical assistance• Learn of fREE recycling educational resources.

To Join...• Have written permission from the principal;• Currently be recycling, or agree to recycle at least one type of item for one year!• That’s it! You can be part of THE CLUB!

The School Recycling CLUBa Project of The Northeast resource recovery association2101 Dover Road (NH Rte 4)Epsom, NH 03234

www.schoolrecycling.net

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Printed on recycled Paper

Partially funded by a USDa rural Development Solid Waste Grant

Non-Profit org.US Postage

PAIDEpsom, NH 03234

Permit # 1267procedures that cut back on the school’s paper usage. The school now uses e-mail for attendance, lunch counts and school memos.

“The students have done a superb job using the TEAM Earth program to encourage ‘green’ practices in their school,” said Kelly Pearson, School Recycling CLUB Coordinator. “I hope other schools will follow their great lead.”

Milford Middle School has been a member of our CLUB since April 2007. Since then they have been educating the students and staff about recycling through their main hallway bulletin board. The big board features recycling tips and tracks their recycling progress with graphs and other visuals. They also use their school announcements to publicize earth friend-ly tips on how to reduce, reuse and recycle. Each one of these efforts earns the group more points in our TEAM Earth Awards program. Congratulations again to Milford Middle School for just earning their Silver!

If your school would like to be apart of the TEAM Earth Awards Program, please contact Kelly at (603) 736-4401 ext. 17 or e-mail theclub@nrra.net.

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TEAM EarthEfforts AWARDED

To Order Call 1-800-221-2384

Free Fund Raiser! Free Fund Raiser! Earn money for your school by recycling paper!

Contact your local Recycling Representative to find out how to turn your paper in to $$$$$. Click on www.paperretriever.com to sign up your school and start earning money today!