Tag Archives: trash

Hastings-on-Hudson Schools Launched Extensive Recycling Program

Leave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHastings-on-Hudson has launched its extensive recycling program and is looking proudly at a 90% reduction of waste from its lunchrooms as well as a significant reduction in the building.

We Future Cycle helped set up the building to allow for source separation into paper, commingled and food waste recycling. Left as trash is really only plastic baggies and some other soiled things that do not fit into the above recycling groups.

George Prine, the Director of Facilities said that he is amazed as to how little garbage there is left. The Farragut Avenue building, which hosts the High and Middleschool of around 800 students usually generated 17 bags of loosely filled garbage bags just from the lunchroom. With the recycling station in place, it is now generating 4 bags going into food composting, 1 bag going into commingled recycling, and 1 small bag as trash. That is it.

1 week of food waste to be diverted into compost
1 week of food waste to be diverted into compost

This will eventually translate into significant savings for the district in waste management, as about 70 bags of garbage per day are not generated. Instead these materials are source separated and fed into the existing recycling streams. This saves money, and is also much better for the environment.

1 week of commingled diverted into recycling
1 week of commingled diverted into recycling

And we are creating a generation of Hastings students that know what source separation can do and how easy it is. Soon it will be the new normal.

SIMS Recycling Education Center opens in Brooklyn

1 Comment

Recycling Education Center Opens in Brooklyn

In 2013, Sims Municipal Recycling opened a state-of-the-art Material Recovery Facility in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The facility can process 100% of the metal, glass, and plastic collected in New York City, with the capacity to process 1,000 tons of material a day. Utilizing its waterfront location, the facility transports the majority of these recyclables by barge. See how NYC recyclables are sorted at the facility in this video.

This month, Sims opened the Recycling Education Center (REC) for schoolchildren and other organizations. While developed with third to eighth graders in mind, people of all ages can enjoy the REC with its colorful, interactive, hands-on exhibits and activities that show how materials are processed for recycling, and turned into new products.

Visitors can watch videos and take an interactive recycling quiz in the media center; play with magnets, scales, air compressors, and conveyors in the activity center; and step onto an operations overlook to see the machines and people in action as they sort NYC’s recyclables. Eadaoin Quinn, Education Coordinator at Sims, explains, “Hearing the machines, smelling the recyclables, and seeing the faces of the workers will really change how people view recycling.”

Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia recently joined children of DSNY employees for a sneak peek of the center and saw firsthand how the center creatively engages kids, while they learn all about recycling.

DSNY gets many requests from the public to see the recycling process up close. Now, the REC is open for free tours. Get a group together, and schedule a visit today!

TIPS
Recycle Plastics!

NYC’s residential recycling program includes all rigid plastics; the number on the bottom doesn’t matter. These include items that are made predominantly or entirely of plastic, and have relatively inflexible shapes or forms, such as takeout containers, plastic cups and utensils, and bulky items, like toys.

 HIGHLIGHTS
Eadaoin Quinn of Sims

Eadaoin (pronounced “Ay-Deen”) Quinn helped develop the REC, and loves teaching children about the important role they play in recycling and conserving resources. After visiting the center, she hopes children will be inspired to tell others how recycling works. Contact her toschedule a visit!

Recycling by the Numbers*

579M 11M 986K 139K 240K
lbs of recyclables
collected
this year		 lbs of organics
collected
this year		 lbs of clothing collected by
re-fashioNYC
this year		 lbs of electronics collected by
e-cycleNYC
this year		 lbs of reusables
diverted by
ReuseNYC members
last year

*numbers are approximate

750 New York City Schools Are Source Separating

Leave a comment

Composting pictureNew York City is showing America that it can be done. Children of 750 New York City public schools are learning source separation in their cafeterias. They will learn that “waste free starts with me” by being responsible for their lunchroom waste.

Way to go!

http://www.districtadministration.com/article/nyc-schools-kick-organic-waste-curb-composting

GETTING RESULTS: New Rochelle School District Eliminates Carcinogenic Styrofoam From The Menu

Leave a comment

downloadUnder the leadership of Interim Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Korostoff and now  to be continued by New Rochelle’s new Superintendent Dr. Brian Osborne, New Rochelle School District is finally eliminating  disposable food trays made from Styrofoam from all of its cafeterias.

Expanded PolyStyrene, also known as “Styrofoam”  contains Styrene and that chemical has been linked to cancer and has been classified in 2011 as “reasonably anticipated human carcinogen” by the US Department of Health.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/29/styrene-officially-linked-to-cancer/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=06e8c5f2aa-Top_News_7_30_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-06e8c5f2aa-85840709

This is a wonderful development and a major win of the health and well being of our children and the environment over short sighted consideration of the pocket book.

Styrofoam trays remain the cheapest options for school districts to feed their children on, but cheapest is clearly not in the best interest of the children. Actually, it is unconscionable of School Districts to feed children on this material.

Styrofoam trays are only the cheapest because none of the upstream nor downstream costs of this material is considered. The material uses toxic ingredients, has been linked to leaching these materials into the food and drink it comes in contact with, and creates massive amount of garbage that is either landfilled and NEVER goes away, or it is, in the case of Westchester County, incinerated to then release its Styrene into the air (and guess who is breathing that air?).

When it comes to the health and weTraysfrom2schoolsll-being of our children and ultimately of our community…. CHEAP is not the right solution.

New Rochelle School District is also implementing the School Lunch Recycling Program in all of its elementary and middle schools and is paving the way for other large school districts to follow. If a district with 11,000 students can put the health of its students first, so can others. Ultimately, by taking Styrofoam out of the system, and teaching the children to source separate in the buildings and the lunchroom, thus diverting 90% of the materials from trash to recycling, New Rochelle is set to save hundreds of thousands of dollars so far spent on Waste Management.

A Win-Win and WIN situation for the children, environment and ultimately the pocket book. All it takes, is a change of attitude.

 

 

Eastchester Elementary School Is Awarded Green Ribbon Award for Recycling in Washington

Leave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAEastchester’s Ann Hutchinson Elementary School has just been awarded the Green Ribbon Award.

This award acknowledges the school’s achievements in taking a comprehensive approach to green schools. The areas encompassed by the award include reduced environmental impact and costs, improved health and wellness, and effective environmental and sustainability education. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated that The Anne Hutchinson School is a model of excellence and achievement in these Pillars for all other schools to follow.

Ann Hutch was  commended for the  school’s commitment to environmental stewardship, health, and sustainability and for inspiring our entire school community to aim high.

Dave O’Neil , the 5th grade teacher and driving force behind this wonderful program has been invited to celebrate Ann Hutch’s accomplishments during a nOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAational recognition event on July 22nd, 2014 in Washington D.C.

This school is following the School lunch Recycling Program  and thanks to Dave O’Neil has been showing off its remarkable success  to other schools in Westchester. This school truly buzzes with green energy. We had several organized tours and many districts are inspired to also implement the program. Make no mistake, the students are fully in-charge of the program and the tour. Be prepared to have 4th or 5th grade students tell you all about saving the world, how and what to recycle, how and what to compost and what compost is all good for. If weather permits, one even gets to view the butterfly garden, adjacent to some of the compost bins.

The Ann Hutch Website has the following write up about the Award

 

“I would like to acknowledge and thank Dave O’Neil, fifth grade teacher for spearheading our initiative to recycle and compost, Vidya Bhat, reading specialist for co-writing the Green Ribbon Award Application, and John Condon for ensuring that our facility follows all the guidelines for energy efficiency.  Most of all, I am grateful to the students and staff of the Anne Hutchinson school for working together to produce a sustainable and healthy school environment, ensuring the environmental literacy of all our graduates….it truly “takes a village”. “

Hard Cash through Recycling for New Rochelle Elementary School

Leave a comment

recycling binsNew Rochelle’s Webster Elementary School has partnered up with Terracycle and the students are sorting out and recycling things like Chip bags, empty glue sticks, juice pouches, empty markers, broken electronics. broken pens, broken crayons.

Things they had — until recently — thrown into the garbage without a thought. Now they know, practically anything can be recycled if it is just sorted out.

In January of 2014, Melissa Passerelli, Principal,  and Greg Middleton, Assistant Principal asked Anna Giordano to implement a Terracycle Partner Program. The 5th graders were the Ambassadors and after going through two training sessions, they were the ones teaching the lower grades about the advantages of recycling. Students learned to bring the materials to a center hallway station and a parent volunteered to mail out the content when it was full.

Check out Terracycle.com, a fabulous company that “upcycles” materials into new and totally hip products. When you go to their website, check out their products. There is no cost involved for schools, mailing labels are free and schools will get REAL cash for their recycling.

Webster is going to buy Composting Equipment from the money they have earned through Terracycle, taking it one step further in their quest to be a waste free school. The students at Webster are learning every day that ” Waste Free starts with Me”

Mothering Mother Reinvents Produce Bags, An Extension To On-Going Plastic Bag Ban Efforts

Leave a comment

r384606_2739994

Over 50,000 communities world wide have woken up to the fact that single use plastic bags are BAD!

Bad for the environment, bad for the municipalities, bad for the tax payers.

They never biodegrade, they clog up sewer systems, they hang decoratively from trees, they get into our food chain, they kill animals,  and there are thousands more reasons why they are bad.

However most single use plastic ban legislation does not cover the plastic produce bags that are commonly used to package produce.

Unfortunately these plastic produce bags are often mistaken for candy by the consumer. I have seen shoppers pulling on that roll with such vigor, taking 10-20 bags at a time, to then package up in each bag one bundle of already plastic wrapped bananas, and one plastic wrapped ice berg lettuce head. And most don’t use all bags they pre-pulled, and leave them laying in their cart for the wind to carry off. No thought.

Fortunately, there is a WAY better solution.0603_1900-209x300

Mothering Mother, a company founded by Pelham Resident Sydney McInnes, has tackled just Combined-230x230that problem.  Their cotton reusable bags help to make the commitment to health with reusable produce bags, bulk bags and totes. Shopping with cotton gives a gentle, ongoing reminder to eat well, for your health and the health of the planet. Bag single use plastic habits once and for all!  

Check out their website at MotheringMother.com

 

 

 

 

 

New Rochelle Students Proud of their Earth Day Project

Leave a comment

This is from a few years ago. Every day I walked by this part of the woods and it bothered me to no end to see all this garbage. So, I donned some gloves on my little trash troopers, and off we went to save the world. The kids were so proud afterwards and the newspaper even picked up the story.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

(PS: we emptied the bags into the recycling can afterwards, the DPW crew gave me a LOOK when they emptied all these beer and wine bottles from my recycling can)