2012 Antelope, CA, USA

When Brandon Schinina walked over to his school’s library to brainstorm his CFW proposal, he saw a student walk out with a cardboard box full of recyclables. The student then dumped all the bottles and cans into the nearby garbage, where it would have forever ended up in a landfill. Plastics and cans, if not properly recycled, can stay in a landfill for hundreds of years without degrading. Plastics and cans are also common trash items that find their way into our waterways. This inspired Brandon to reform the schools recycling system in hopes that it would help the school be greener and the students more aware.

Brandon’s plan was simple, to equip each classroom and the campus with recycling bins in order to have proper recycling happening at school and to encourage students to recycle more in their personal lives. With $916 in Nutrien implementation funds and the CFW matching school award, he was able to purchase the needed bins.

With the help of the “People for the Planet” club, he placed 8 new large recycling bins on the Antelope High School campus and smaller bins in the classrooms.

Now that there are good bins around the school and in the cafeteria/ lunch areas, students and teachers don’t have to resort to throwing the recyclables away with the trash.

By providing the opportunity to recycle, Brandon helped not only the students, but also the teachers to recycle more. He has been personally thanked by students and staff members when the club went through the classes and put the bins in place. The campus looks cleaner as well, with less cans and bottles left around the school. Brandon is happy when he sees students using the bins and knows that he has made a difference in his school community.

2012 Sacramento, CA, USA

Schools generate enormous amounts of paper, aluminum, and plastic waste that often times only makes its way into the garbage bins and landfills. The students at William Daylor Continuation High School decided they wanted to reduce this waste and collect the bottles and cans to raise extra funds for the Green Construction Technology ROP program. For starters, the school already had blue bins for recycling but they were stuffed away in storage. These were cleaned up and delivered to each classroom. Just by recycling the notebook and copy paper, the school reduced its total garbage by about 35%.

The students also realized it that not just the paper was being thrown away, but also the bottles and cans. Signs were made to help direct students to add bottles and cans to the paper waste but the leakage was making things messy. It was time to build some recycling stations. With $330 from Nutrien to buy lumber, bins, screws, and paint, the students built two can and bottle receptacles and placed them in lunch courtyard and a central location by classrooms. The students also built a receptacle to collect cardboard lunch trays, which were being thrown away even if spotless. These trays, collected without food waste or wrappers, are then shredded and spread onto the garden paths to help keep the weeds down or they are added to the outdoor composting pile.

In building and using the new bins, students have become increasingly aware of the amount of garbage that can be recycled and that with a little extra work, we can reduce our school’s impact on the landfills by nearly 50%! We have also raised over $100 by recycling the bottles and cans which will continue for the years ahead. This money goes towards further environmental projects being carried out by the Green Construction class as well as for the organic garden on campus.