Tag Archives: wefuturecycle

New Rochelle ALMS Taste of New Rochelle Fundraiser is going green

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Last night about 300 of New Rochelle’s parents had a chance to stroll in the festively decorated lunchroom of Albert Leonard Middle School to view lots of silent auction item as well as tasting delicious fare from fabulous New Rochelle restaurants.

The annual ALMS PTSA fundraiser “Taste of New Rochelle” was a relaxing place to meet and greet parents we only get to see on our (hurried) way to drop off or pick up our kids.

Last night marked also the first time that this event was source separated to mirror what the students are doing in the lunchroom.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAParents had the opportunity to sort their waste into “Food & Paper” and “Commingled Recycling” and they all did it with gusto and flawlessly. Anna Giordano, Executive Director of We Future Cycle, the not-for-profit organisation that was hired to bring extensive sustainability programs to the district was there to help at the station and to share the fabulous results achieved in all the schools since the inception of the program. ALMS has reduced its lunchroom waste by a whopping 95%, its building waste by a good 50% and its kitchen waste by 65%. All in all, that is about 450 lbs of garbage NOT generated every day, and that just from one of the 9 participating New Rochelle schools.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThanks to the program, New Rochelle School District was able to revamp its waste management system and save considerable funds. Carl Thurnau, the Director of Facilities for the district has just quantified it at the ongoing budget meetings with an annual savings of $130,000.

And of course, Westchester County is benefiting from the increase of recyclables delivered to the Material Recovery Facility near Stew Leonards. Recyclables are commodities that are sold back to industry for considerable prices.

ALMS Taste of New Rochelle generated 3 large bags of recyclables, one bag of food waste for composting, and only about 2 lbs of trash, mainly Styrofoam products.

New Rochelle Recycling Club Students Making IEYMS A Greener Place

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New Rochelle Isaac Young MS has started the We Future Cycle recycling program in the lunchroom last year and is proudly looking upon a 97% reduction in waste. At the same time, all classrooms were set up with three bins and students are doing an amazing job sorting.

3 times per week students from the recycling club are meeting to help make sure the sorted material stays separated. They walk the hallways with large toters and are emptying the classroom bins. Helping the Earth is something that brought them together and they are feeling good about doing their part.

Monday is the club day where students are learning from We Future Cycle’s Executive Director about the life cycle of materials, the effect of garbage in our environment and fabulous new inventions that help our Earth. Part of this clubs mission is to bring more education through posters and write ups to a larger student population. These students are truly inspirational.

 

New Rochelle Trinity Student Wins Cash in Essay Writing Contest

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Saboor Tahir with his Certificate

It pays to write!

That is something that Saboor Tahir learned in a very pleasant way. Today, Trinity’s Assistant Principal presented the gleaming 5th grader with his certificate and an envelope holding a nice cash prize, all in front of his applauding classmates.

This 5th grade class was part of the recent “The Science of Composting” workshop given by We Future Cycle. Students touched, felt and smelt compost and learned about what goes on inside the compost pile. Connecting global warming, healthy soils and a solution to a waste management problem was the objective of this workshop and students were tasked to write about what they learned.

Saboor Tahir rose up to the task and handed in an essay that very clearly reflected his understanding of the topic and  that he did additional research to connect these important dots.

Way to go Saboor! Congratulations.

New Rochelle Ward Elementary 4th Grader Creates “How I can save the World” Poster

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unnamedMeet Charlotte, a 4th grader at Ward Elementary School that spends many of her lunch periods helping in the lunchroom with the recycling program. She spent the past cold and blustering weekend to create a visual display sharing valuable ideas on how every body can make a difference by just altering their habits a little bit.

If all of us did this, we would make a huge difference. Thank you Charlotte!

Report From the Trenches: Head Custodian Talks about Recycling Program

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Implementing the We Future Cycle Recycling program in a new school is a lot of behind the scenes preparation work, the building has to get set up, all players need to be presented to, flow has to be created, guidelines established, responsibilities assigned and only once all that is done, we get to train the kids to actually source separate in the lunchroom and thus reducing garbage by a whopping 98%.

One of the key player in each school is the head custodian and the success of the program is tightly connected to his/her buy in.

We Future Cycle sat down to talk with Pedro Molina, head custodian at White Plains Ridgeway Elementary School, the first of the White Plains schools to join the program two years ago.

Pedro laughed when I asked him to recall. He said he did not believe me initially when I talked about a 95% reduction in waste. He worked too long in a school and has for too long carried out 15 bags of garbage every lunch.

After setting up the station in the lunchroom and living through the blur of the first day of hands on training the kids to sort, he believed me, in a breathless sort of way. We did the waste audit together, weighed each bag together and documented the incredible reduction. Pedro mentioned : “I am going to be in trouble, I have so much commingled recycling now, and no place to put it”

Pedro jumped into action, and went about teaching his staff so that the system is providing consistency and continuity. From day 2 on, breakfast, lunch and afterschool programs were sorting, an incredible accomplishment.

In the beginning there was resistance from his staff. Cleaners thought it will be more work for them, but once students learned how to sort it became easier and easier and now, instead of having to bring out 15 bags in a span of 1.5 hrs, cleaners only have to clean up at the very end of lunch.

Pedro Molina’s constant support is vital to the program and his enthusiasm and guidance is the key ingredient to keeping the students engaged. He shares that he has a large crew of student helpers every single day helping at the station.

And it didn’t stop at school, Pedro has taken the information home and is diligent about sorting at home too. Seriously WAY TO GO!

White Plains Ridgeway Students Compost All Classroom Food waste

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Check out these two recycling rangers from White Plains Ridgeway Elementary School.

20170104_104701_1They are bringing the organic snack waste from their classroom to the lunchroom. There it is combined with the food waste that will  be composted. White Plains has adopted the We Future Cycle Recycling Program last year and is working hard to make its schools a waste free environment. And Ridgeway is very much on its way.

The lunchroom has reduced garbage by a whopping 95% through sorting and diversion into recycling and composting and each classroom is doing the same thing.

Students learned in We Future Cycle presentations how to reduce snack waste by choosing naturally unwrapped foods as well as using reusable containers. Each time a student was waste free he or she got a leaf to paste on the “Ridgeway Caring Tree” and the tree looks beautiful and very “leafy”.

20170104_104939Every day, students of all grades bring their organics down to the lunchroom and carefully clean their pail. Head Custodian Pedro Molina reports that there is practically nothing in the trash at the end of the day.

 

New Rochelle Trinity First Graders Study Worms With Great Enthusiasm

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Picture1Walking into a classroom full of excited 6 year olds, toting your worm composting bin is an adventure in itself. The “uuuuh”, “aaahhhha” and “YIKES” were ear splitting, most students also expressed how gross they thought worms were. However, it didn’t take long for them to understand the important role that worms play in our environment.

Students learned how worms eat and the explanation of what comes back out was drawing big laughter . They giggled as they tried the new words out. Eisenia Fetida, the latin name of the red wriggle worm, is now a household name among these first graders. Worms and their “castings” were investigate under the magnifying glass and all students touched and smelled the worm castings to make a scientific analysis.

“It feels real smooshy and doesn’t stink at all, just smells like dirt”

“I thought it would be gross to touch it, but it wasn’t, not at all”

“The baby worms were so cute, I wanted to take them home”

We Future Cycle is proud to provide sustainability education to the New Rochelle School District and class by class, students are learning how things work together and how they can make a difference. Fostering understanding for the cycle of life and the importance of all beings in this cycle in young children will change communities.

Vincent’s mom already shared with the teacher how the information came home and how Vincent now considers worms and other critters his friends.

New Rochelle School District has committed funds to Sustainability Education knowing that it is a capital improvement project that will shape and educate the whole child. Truly fantastic.

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For White Plains Eastview Students Recycling Is The New Normal

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On my regular visit to schools participating in the We Future Cycle Recycling Program, I often ask the students how they are feeling about sorting in the lunchroom. The answers today made me so proud! Here is what Eastview’s 6th graders had to say.

Diego said that sorting is not hard, it helps the Earth so much and he now does it automatically without thinking and also at home.

David brought the information home and in his house there are 3 bins now and everything gets sorted correctly, and that makes it so much cleaner.

Reid echoed that now his house also recycles, something they did not do before.

Rebecca shared that they were recycling before she learned about it in school, but now they are also composting in their yard and they are much more exact about what items can all be recycled.

Silvia also brought recycling home and it is now the new normal at home as well.

Watching 600+ students sorting carefully their lunchroom waste into excess liquid, commingled recycling and food waste for composting was so inspiring. They KNEW what to do, and they did it casually, completely naturally and without any effort at all. While chatting with their friends soft plastic was separated from the left over sandwich so each could go into the correct bin, left over milk was poured into the bucket, and the carton went into recycling.

This new normal also shows throughout the building as each classroom is set up with a paper and commingled recycling bin .

Today I audited the garbage that came from night clean, so from all the classrooms, bathrooms and offices and it was incredible! A building of 600+ students generated just 16 lbs of garbage in the building, 6 lbs from lunch and breakfast and 3 lbs from the kitchen. So a total of only 25 lbs of garbage per day, down from 296 lbs per day or an overall 92% reduction! That is way wonderful. And just think about these 600+ students bringing this news home and making it the new normal there as well.

New Rochelle Davis 1st Graders Helping The Earth

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” I reuse by using a plastic container for lunch and a metal bottle” writes and illustrates Amanda Koffler.

We Future Cycle recently did a refresher class in all classrooms of New Rochelle Davis Elementary School. Students learned more about how bad garbage was for the environment, and that there is no “away” on this Earth.

Ms Curry’s First Grade class was all fired up and decided to write a book on how they will make a difference and help this Earth.

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Rabaneles

I was very impressed. Jefferson Rabanales wrote a “How to” story on sorting. He titled it “How to recycle” and outlined clearly the steps.

  1. First you eat your snack or your lunch
  2. you find the correct bin
  3. now you put the stuff in the correct bin

Nadia Morales very nicely color coded her picture and summarized : “I help the Earth because I recycling”

Abigayle Mills outlines that she helps the Earth by always bringing reusable water bottles.

Nalani Canales re-purposes materials to make new  things out of it. “I help the Earth because I reuse a shoebox to make a mailbox”

Juliana Rubino has the right idea. “I clean up the Earth because I clean up the Earth every day”

Every single one of Ms Curry’s students pledged to help the Earth. Way to go!