Tag Archives: wefuturecycle

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

August 3, 2014 wefuturecycle Leave a comment

Under 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 well-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.

Hastings-on-Hudson Schools to Implement School Lunch Recycling Program

July 12, 2014 wefuturecycle Leave a comment

Hastings-on-Hudson is implementing the School Lunch Recycling Program.

We Future Cycle is going to do all the preparation and set up during the summer and by September Hastings students will come back to school to fully streamed buildings.

Each lunchroom will have a Recycling station and students will learn to separate their waste into “Commingled” “Compostable” and ” Terracycle” categories. From the current 17 bags of loose mixed garbage, Hastings will be down to less then 1/4 bag coming out of the lunchroom, all the rest will fit into the above categories. 65% of what comes out of the lunchroom is compostable.

Waste Management costs are projected to be cut in half by this measure and the school district will see a drastic decrease in use of plastic bags, a considerable expense often overlooked. Mayor Swiderski of Hastings-on-Hudson is very pleased to have this environmentally sound shift in the schools coincide with the upcoming Plastic bag and PolyStyrene ban in October of 2014.

Thanks to Counterspace, “School Lunch Recycling” is now “We Future Cycle!”

May 1, 2014 wefuturecycle Leave a comment

After 4 years of operation under founder Anna Giordano, the “School Lunch Recycling” organization had become so much more. The program now included composting in its school lunch offering, and the Waste Free Classroom program had taken off. As well, Anna was joined by partner Ashley Welde, who brought communications and technical expertise to the mix. With a much broader vision and ambitions goals, the organization demanded a new name and identity.

Anna and Ashley met with designing and branding visionaries Christina Collins and Brett Collins from Counterspace to come up with a new name and logo. Within minutes, the name “We Future Cycle” was born, and the logo shortly followed. We are so grateful to Christina, Brett, and the whole Counterspace team for donating their time and wisdom to We Future Cycle. Thank you!