Reusable bags

2012 San Antonio de Areco, Buenos Aires, Argentina

This proposal was to provide a solution to the massive use of plastic bags we use to carry purchased goods, etc. The goal is to replace these plastic bags with reusable cloth bags that are being sold at different stores. By including members of the Local Association to Promote People with Disabilities (APROPDIS) the students aimed to generate an environmental and social benefit. The members of APROPDIS collaborated in the labeling of these reusable bags by adding the supermarket name, the Caring for Our Watersheds and the Institution logos.

These bags are now found in local supermarkets. They are stacked next to a donating box where interested patrons can take a bag and donate money at their discretion. This money is given to the APROPDIS for them to continue designing and “selling” the bags.

The students worked together with another school that had proposed a similar project.

Motor Oil Recycling for the Community (MORC)

2012 Washington, DC, USA

Following on the Roots Public Charter School’s 2011 Caring for Our Watersheds effort and proposal entry, students of the MORC (Motor Oil Recycling for the Community) project worked to raise community awareness of where and how to recycle used motor oil. They determined the neighborhood locations for motor oil recycling, and produced signs to let the community know where those locations are.

At the school’s Family Fun Day on June 9, students hosted a MORC activity booth to inform people of the closest recycling location to their home (since they had found that not all service stations in the area recycle oil as they out). At the Caring for Our Watersheds finals on June 4, the MORC project won 1st place, with a spirited presentation that included a mock newscast.

Battery Waste Disposal

2012 Brighton, Ontario, Canada

Kevin Peterson, Grade 8 student at Brighton Public School identified improper disposal of batteries as Battery waste poses a large problem in landfills since large amounts of batteries are disposed improperly. The main problem with batteries in landfills is the chemicals such as lead, cobalt, cadmium, lithium and potassium hydroxide that get leaked into drinking water then consumed by humans. This then causes a large amount of medical conditions.

Kevin noted that, although there are battery recycling programs in place, a lack of advertisement as well as lack of drop off boxes remains a problem. His proposal was to display posters where batteries are sold to inform customers about the battery recycling programs. In addition drop off boxes for batteries are needed in more local businesses and community centers not just big box stores to help expand these programs into smaller communities.

After the Caring for our Watersheds contest Kevin presented his idea to Brighton Municipal Council. They were so impressed that they not only gave Kevin permission to locate a battery drop off box and poster in the municipal building, they also agreed to fund the cost of all the boxes and posters.

GreenLemon

2012 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Kyle Cousins with the EcoJustice program at St. Edward School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan developed a wonderful idea about how to help protect the watershed. Kyle’s idea was to create an environmentally-friendly and chemical-free all-purpose cleaner that would be simple enough for people to make in their own households. He chose to make a chemical free cleaner for his watersheds project because when you’re cleaning and you use a chemical-based cleaner and some of the cleaner goes down the drain, it will eventually end up polluting the watershed. However, if you use a chemical-free cleaner, then you don’t have to worry about chemical-based pollution coming from that cleaner. Greenlemon (lime) photo student action project

The benefits of using a homemade cleaner greatly outnumber the disadvantages. First off, it will save you money because cleaners at stores can be quite pricey, but when you make your own, the ingredients are much less expensive. Next, GreenLemon is environmentally friendly because without chemicals there is no chemical pollution. Another advantage to making your own cleaner is that you can use the same bottle over and over again, thus you will not need to get a new bottle every time. This will reduce the amount of plastic that either needs to be recycled or might find its way into the watershed or landfill. As well, since GreenLemon has no chemicals, it is safer for children and pets, as well as adults.

Kyle created a blog to help share his cleaning solution in addition to including the recipe at this school and his school newsletters.

GreenLemon Cleaning Solution- 4L Recipe 3L of Water, 3 cups Vinegar, 1/4 cups Baking Soda Add 15ml of Lemon Juice to every 1L of solution at time of use

Recycling Campaign

2012 Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Maddison Wolf from Lord Selkirk Regional High school observed problems with recycling at her school; the bins were often overflowing onto the floor. She spoke to the janitorial staff found out the system in place could not handle the volume of recyclables from the school. “I did a poll of some of my peers, which revealed they were less likely to recycle when there was recycling piled onto the floor around the full bins”. At $70, she proposed a simple solution of purchasing additional bins for the school at key locations.

“We placed the recycling bins in 2 locations next to the Pepsi drink machines. Before this the plastic drink bottles were just thrown into the garbage cans located close by. We had to empty the small bin two times week and the large bin every week. The students in the resource area were responsible for emptying the bins. This has saved a lot of bottles from entering the landfill.”

Installing Filtration Systems to School Water Fountains

2012 Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

What don’t the students use the water fountains in Lord Selkirk School? Jason Bzura wanted to investigate the answer. The flavor of the water was one reason, and the second was the inability to fill reusable water bottles. He did a great deal of research on water quality but in the end, a simple water filter to improve the flavor and a filling station was the answer.

He asked the students and they agreed if this would exist in their school they would reduce if not eliminate their purchase of water bottles.
Nutrien contributed $1,000 to this project.

“The water bottle filling station is almost up and running. It has been installed but we are waiting on one part that was damaged in order for it to work. The students are constantly stopping by it and try to fill up their water bottles. We had to put a “coming soon” sign on it. I am sure that once it is in working order then several plastic water bottles will be diverted from the landfill.”

Municipal Recycling Cans

2012 Brighton, Ontario, Canada

Alexis Turney, Amelie Robertson and Holly Hutchison from Brighton Public School won first place in 2012 for their idea to install recycling bins alongside each garbage can in Brighton to reduce the amount of recyclables going into the local landfill.

The group noticed that along the streets of Brighton there were 21 garbage cans but no recycling cans. Their proposal focused on installing recycling cans along the main streets of Brighton to decrease the amount of waste entering the landfill and also reducing the amount of pollution throughout the watershed.

With the funding from Nutrien, as well as local assistance from the Municipality of Brighton and Lower Trent Conservation the group’s proposal was successfully implemented in 2013. The implementation resulted in the installation of ten recycling cans next to the existing garbage cans along the two main streets of Brighton.

Waste Not, Wash a Lot

2012 Greeley, Colorado, USA

Amanda Cary, Anna Harkabus, and Alexis Gerk Cindy Keesis, AP Environmental Science Instructor MaryAnn Murphy, Mentor, Poudre Learning Center.

Their solution to the huge Styrofoam problem is to replace the toxic Styrofoam plates that are used at the school each day for lunch with plastic trays that can be used over and over again. The reusable plates will be washed each day in a sanitation system already located in the school’s kitchen. Although additional water use is necessary for the implementation of the project, such adverse environmental impact is minor compared to the effects of polystyrene plates.

Helmut Sihler once said that, “The environment is too important to be left to the environmentalists.”

“We are excited that each and every student at Northridge will be able to take a step toward protecting our watershed.” States Lexi Gerk.

Working the Nutrition Leaders in the cafeteria, the students’ ordered 500 reusable trays. They also ordered tray racks to hold the trays in the washing process.

The total cost of the implementation is $3236.32 to purchase the trays and the racks. Thank you to Nutrien and the school district for helping fund this project.

Waste Wise

2012 Greeley, Colorado, USA

Lila Dong and Faith Sears, sophomores, won eighth place in 2012 Caring for our Watersheds (CFW) Colorado competition finals. Afterwards, Nutrien donated $1,000 to implement their idea.

Dong and Sears had the idea to implement a composting program at their high school. Although the original proposal had to be altered before the finals, the idea re-implemented a program in the high school that had previously been benefiting the environment and community through food waste recycling. The original program had to be cancelled when the composting company closed. In time for the CFW finals, Dong and Sears had already made contact with a long established composting company, and secured support from the school administration and student body for the composting program.

Dong and Sears is working with A1 Organics, a well-established composting company in Colorado along with Nutrien and its’ community partners.

A1 Organics has provided a composting bin for Union Colony Schools, in which middle and high schoolers will recycle their food waste. Biweekly, the company will pick up the compost. This program will be in place for the entirety of the 2012-2013 school year. It will be completed in May 2013; however, through the terra-cycling program at Union Colony, it is hopeful that the composting program will continue to have funding for the following years.

Dong has commented on the project, “Composting allows us to use specific things such as food that will help the watershed and even nature by giving nutrients for plants instead of just wasting it by throwing it away in the trash.”

Advertising the Proper Disposal of Mercury Lamps

2012 Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada

Lord Selkirk Regional High School student, Kayla Weselowski wanted to create an awareness campaign for the Selkirk, Lockport and St. Andrews area regarding the proper disposal of mercury-containing lights. She felt there was an inadequate amount of information available to the public regarding the safe disposal of these lights as well as the harm that would be caused by simply discarding this hazardous material.

She proposed a simple solution, to produce signs that she would put up in stores directing people to places where these bulbs can be recycled.

The Caring for our Watersheds contest provided Kayla with the funding requested to produce some of these signs.

“I really enjoyed overcoming the challenges that this project presented me with. These included everything from meeting deadlines, to improving my presentation skills. The actual advertising was quite a challenge for me as well, because I had very little experience with that form of art. Another obstacle was avoiding copy protected images; as a result, everything on the posters was self produced. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the independence I had during the entire process. The business aspect of it was also very interesting, and because of this experience I will be pursuing business courses in a post secondary education.”