Recycling rules evolve all the time. Municipalities change which plastic and paper materials they accept, and some have moved from source separating to single-stream recycling. While most people have good intentions, there is a lot of confusion about what materials are recyclable and which are not, as well as the appropriate method to discard each type of recyclable.
The Recycle Right program helps clear up this confusion. Simply having clear labels on recycling bins can help increase recycling by 50%. Watch the video here: http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/06/02/awesome-campaign-takes-confusion-out-recycling?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2014-06-03
Hastings-on-Hudson joined other municipalities in Westchester County and around the country to band single-use plastic bags and polystyrene. As well, starting on June 18, the Hastings Department of Public Works will no longer pick up grass cuttings, and suggests that residents process the cuttings using “grassrecycling” or composting.
Click here to view a pamphlet by Westchester County on what to do with Grass Cuttings:
Congratulations to the Hastings community on these smart decisions to make their environment healthier!
Having an Exit Plan is vital to any organization, and at last nights BOE meeting, after agitating the issue for a long time, FINALLY an exit plan for the offered plastic bottles was offered. Prominently featured, right next to the table, right next to the small garbage can was a blue, large recycling bin.
And ….oh wonder, oh wonder…. when the logistics are offered and visible, the bin was used and there was not a single plastic bottle in the garbage.
I credit Dr Korostoff’s policy of open door and giving me the support in my work. I also credit the custodian Derrick Burford for embracing the concept. He has shown me how he collects bottles out of the trash throughout the BOE Central Offices and places them in one central recycling can. He was very receptive to my explanation that plastic cups also belong into the category, not just bottles, and he immediately began also placing other rigid plastics into recycling.
As Neil Armstrong so famously said: ” That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. I think the same can apply here.
People often wonder what they, as individuals, can really do to help the environment and to create change. Most give up soon after formulating the thought, because they think, there is nothing they can do. But they are so WRONG.
We were treated yesterday at the Greenburgh Nature Center to a fabulous presentation about how 6 caring individuals from NYC schools made a HUGE difference. They started a composting pilot in 2012 in 8 NYC public schools – a pilot that wound up being adopted by the City in September 2012 and expanded to – currently – over 450 schools, with plans to eventually expand to all 1,800 NYC public schools.
And that -of course- is sending a shock wave through the country. Suddenly other school districts are waking up to the fact that the waste they create in the schools, their usage of EPS trays, because they are “cheap” is not longer acceptable. If the largest school district can make changes, so can……..no….must they.
Emily Fano of D3 Green Schools
These parents started in 2009 by meeting monthly with a “green support group” of sorts called the District 3 Green Schools Group. (Check them out at greenschoolsny.com) At the meetings they shared strategies for starting classroom and cafeteria recycling programs, energy conservation programs, fundraising by selling waste-free lunch products, and school gardens and rooftop greenhouses. Several of the D3 schools had PTA funded compostable trays to replace the DOE-issued Styrofoam trays because of concerns the trays leached toxic chemicals into the food and because of the disposal nightmare they cause. This was what started their focus on trying to figure out how to compost the trays, which later developed into the tray and food waste pilot of 2012.
The school lunch recycling program, started parallel in New Rochelle in 2010 is also gaining traction fast in Westchester, however to take it to the level that the NYC D3 parents have managed, it will take high level administrative support.
Right now the program is in 7 school districts with a total of 22 schools, To make this program work, many moving parts have to be adjusted. But it all starts with a single engaged person!
So, every one of us can make a difference. Who knows what river YOU will be creating.
Thank you Emily Fano, Lisa Maller and Jennifer Prescott for sharing your story with us.
The auditorium at New Rochelle’s Trinity Elementary school was filled with 3rd, 4th and 5th graders today and they were so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. At 9:30 am Assistant Principal Inas Morsi Hogans and Principal DiCarlo welcomed Ms Jean Chin and Ms Irene Schindler to their school for the first Green Writing Contest Celebration in Honor of Nina Chin.
Nina Chin was a teacher in whose honor the family is giving a grant to one school per year to host a Green Writing Contest. Anna Giordano was honored to be chosen as administrator for this grant.
Ms Jean Chin shared with the students the story of her mother and how Nina Chin has tried to always make a difference and had offered writing contest prizes from her own money for decades to encourage her students to be high achievers.
Trinity school has shown exemplary efforts to reduce its footprint with consistent recycling in the lunchroom and was chosen as awarded school.
26 students rose to the challenge of writing an essay or poem to the topic ” I can make a difference”. The entries were judged by three independent judges and they shared with me afterwards that there was a wealth of lovely entries and it was a really hard choice as to who would snag the coveted cash prizes.
7 students were awarded a cash prize and every participant got a certificate and a hug from Ms Schindler, who is a published author, a national prize winner for many writing contests, with over 70 (!) years of teaching experience. She spoke to the children about winning a Chevrolet Bel Air at some point, and audible gasps of surprise came from the adults in the room.
Ms Morsi Hogans read excerpts from a few essays and it was very powerful to hear their words and their commitment on how each and every single one wants to make a difference. All parents were clutching a tissue, it was very moving.
In January of 2014, I gave this speech to the New Rochelle BOE reminding them yet again, that Styrofoam is BAD and that the lack of district wide recycling is costing the tax payer huge money. This is not a new tune, for three years, without fail I have been singing this tune and slowly but surely things moved.
It started with Mr Quinn finally admitting that recycling is needed (June of 2012), to him admitting that we need to be better at it by sending out a memo to remind all staff about the recycling laws in January 2013. I guess, he was tired of my bi-weekly speeches and constant emails with pictures of recyclables in the trash at the different New Rochelle schools.
In September of 2013, after my speech about Barnard not having ever used their recycling container and Isaac Young using theirs to collect water, Ms Brickle finally asked to put this topic on the agenda.
In January of 2014, despite my regular pushing, still nothing has been set. So I presented this speech to them.
This speech was the tipping point for Dr Korostoff to take decisive action. By April of 2014 Styrofoam was abandoned in 3 pilot schools, food waste composting and full source separation was established and garbage went down from 22 bags to a mere two handfuls.
And with that came the realization that a complete waste management revamp, as I had lobbied for for years, is not only possible, but advisable.
The plan is to have the other schools join the different environmental programs by September, as well as have the current garbage system completely revamped to allow for source separated material disposal, while saving the tax payer close to $500.000.
This shows that Environmental Change CAN come very fast with decisive leaders.
When I started introducing Recycling into schools, all I heard over and over was ” we don’t have time for that”, as if it took more time to put the can into the recycling bin versus the trash can.
Thinking long term, and thinking for the better of the people rather then the better pocket book of a few is something that we MUST have time for.
I am shivering to think when this topic is coming up in New York again. Astorino has made it clear that he is Pro-Fracking.
And it is not that the dangers of fracking are not known or proven over and over, because even the people that are doing it, practice the NIMBY (not in my back yard).
The Katonah-Lewisboro School District is well on its way to meeting its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2015. As well, the District has reduced its use of 50,000 water bottles by installing water bottle filling stations, and has diverted 18,000 pounds of school food waste from landfills and into composting systems. Read more about the District’s success in the Lewisboro Ledger article.
We Future Cycle 