No Plastic Is Fantastic

2019, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Rafay, Josh, and Saabir of Greystone Heights School in Saskatoon were concerned with the amount of single-use plastics contaminating and creating dangers in our environment.

These students planned a community cleanup to reduce the amount of garbage and single-use plastics ending up in our river, and they have planned a single-use plastics phase-out in their school. To eliminate the use of single-use plastics in their school, they created a competition to see which class was bringing the least amount of single-use plastics to school for lunches and snacks. The winning class at the end of the month wins a pizza party. To encourage the elimination of these plastics, the group will be providing paper straws, paper bags, biodegradable utensils, and paper cups for the students in the school to use instead. They have already created a website so that students and others can learn how to phase out the use of plastics at their schools and in their homes.

Rafay, Josh, and Saabir feel that their project is economically feasible, easy to replicate anywhere, and has huge environmental impact potential.

No Plastic is Fantastic SK Implementation Student Action

Tainted Paint

2019, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Abrianna, Ella, and Mary of St. Kateri Tekakwitha School in Regina, Saskatchewan were concerned with paint (and other environmental contaminants) not being properly disposed of. They were alarmed that when paint doesn’t get properly disposed of, it can end up in our water sources. They came up with a plan to make it easier for people to properly dispose of these items, and also to make people aware of the dangers of not disposing of these items properly.

Tainted Paint Implementation SK 2

These girls have already collected numerous paint cans, as well as old nail polish bottles. In addition to placing collection bins for nail polish bottles at Sally Beauty and paint collection bins at 4Cats Art Studio, they have gone door-to-door in their neighbourhood collecting these items to ensure they get disposed of properly.

Abrianna, Ella, and Mary have already seen the impact of their project by collecting old paint cans and nail polish bottles and taking them for proper disposal.

They have also been able to donate paint that is still usable to organizations that can’t afford to purchase such items.

Waste Free Lunch

2019, Warren, MB, CANADA
Waste Free Lunch

Katelyn LaCombe from Warren Collegiate in Manitoba wanted to encourage her classmates to bring waste free lunches to school. She noticed that so many of her fellow students were bringing food in plastic bags, plastic wrap, and other disposable items. She held three contests throughout the school year where students could bring lunches in reusable containers to get their name entered to win environmentally friendly phone cases and zippered cloth snack bags. She provided a poster with different options to replace single-use plastics to educate everyone to continue packing waste free lunches even after the contests were over.

Waste Free Lunch

Reduce, Reuse and Upcycle!

2019, Woodbridge, Virginia, USA

Lake Ridge Middle School recently underwent an expansion of the school in order to house more students. During this expansion, an outdoor courtyard was created. In 2017-2018, the Ecology Club created a raised vegetable garden to help students experience the growth of food and caring for the Earth. This school year (2018-2019), the club wanted to focus on how to care for our waterways, while still adding to our garden and the biodiversity seen around our school.

The students decided to take trash from the school grounds and dumpsters and turn it into gardening tools and containers. Items bound for landfills and in storm drains can unintentionally make their way to our watershed, the nearby Occoquan River.

reduce reuse recycle implementation Chesapeake Bay

The students hope that by taking discarded items and turning them into beautiful plant containers, fencing and a rain barrel they will be able to reduce the amount of trash in the Occoquan, inspire other students and staff to upcycle materials in beneficial ways and increase the number of beneficial plants and insects in our area.

reduce reuse recycle implementation Chesapeake Bay Many of our students are disconnected from nature. In a recent school survey, over 80% of students reported spending less than 15 minutes a day outside. This removal from the outside world impacts how the kids view the Earth and challenges that society faces with environmental issues. The students in the Ecology Club are using this courtyard garden to teach the other students at school about pollution, it’s impact on our water and soil, the importance of pollination and pollinators, biodiversity and where food comes from. It is not a complicated project, but it is profoundly changing how some students will approach their natural world. Their hope is for a cascade effect. They want to clean our local grounds and use that trash to beautify the garden by planting herbs and flowers in it. That it will increase the number of insects and birds in the garden and inspire the humans at school to do the same.

Recycling and Repurposing Electronics

2018-2019, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Recycling and Repurposing Electronics at Kenmore Middle School Valeria, Ashley, Iliana, Zaneya, Frank, Emmett, Connor, Jamethiel, Valery, Brady, and Talin were bothered by all the electronic being thrown away. Many contain components that leak toxins into the watershed. They hoped that by collecting unwanted electronics they could repurpose some and safely recycle others.

To improve their watershed, they wanted to recycle old phones, computers, tablets, and batteries in their school and community; but after weeks of research, they are limiting themselves to only accepting phones, batteries, and tablets.

They have approval from their principal to put shelves in their school lobby where people can put their old electronics. Staples has agreed to take the tablets every other week. If they happen to come across computers, Staples will take a few.

Their in-school police detective will take reusable phones to the Witness and Victim Protection Program so they can be used by victims of domestic violence. If there are broken phones they can’t use, they plan to put them on Freecycle.org for people who want parts. Apple will take back any of their devices that are broken. Arlington County will take their batteries. They made a request that the county take the computers, but after many conversations, they sadly declined; but they can publicize the services the county has for recycling.

Another part of their recycling solution is to distribute flyers that say what to recycle in their county. They will give the magnets to every student in the school to share with families. Another class has asked if they can give out their magnets as prizes to people who recycle.

Conclusion: Recycling electronics will helps the environment by taking out the lithium batteries that might cause a fire or explosion and the metals and plastic that would just end up in the trash. Old electronics pollute the environment and could cause horrendous impacts on the earth. Recycling will keep toxic chemicals out of the water supply.

Utensil Replacement

2018-2019 Arlington, Virginia, USA

Alexy, Jonathan, Byron, Emma, Ashlee, Marcus, Mifra, Nathaly, Jason, Mirhran, Gabe, Taylor, Bryan, Katherine noted that their school cafeteria used plastic straws, plastic sporks, and paper napkins wrapped in plastic packages.

They proposed to replace them with separate options of single paper straws packaged in paper, biodegradable corn-based sporks, and paper napkins in dispensers, like in a restaurant. They plan to put in paper towel dispensers for really bad spills. That will save on using too many napkins.

The group will encourage students and staff to drink right from the cartons instead of using straws, but they will have paper straws available for those who want them.This will make a positive change to the watershed because the school will be reducing plastic and recycling paper and corn.

The group also hopes to educate people on the harm they are causing by using plastic straws, utensils and packaging. Maybe other schools will cut down too, causing the overall amount of plastic to decrease. This means the watershed will be no longer be harmed by the cafeteria and community trash each day.

Utensil replacement implementation

Pathways & Trashcans

2019, Timonium, Maryland, USA

Ridgely’s green club is creating a pathway at our school and decorating trashcans to be placed near the pathway. The people doing this project were Natalie, Molly, Julia, and Lauren. This is very important because it lessens the pollution that affects our watershed. The pathway would be made from stepping stones, so it would prevent pollutants from draining into streams. The trashcans would keep rivers clean.

To improve the watershed, there will be decorated trashcans and colorful stepping stones on the school grounds. One solution will be a work of art that will help improve water quality.

Pathways and Trashcans implementation

The trashcans will be painted and maintained by the Green Club. The stepping stones will each be multiple small rocks combined into one stepping stone. Ridgely students and staff will also be painting the stepping stones.

This project will not take too long to complete but its effects will be long lasting. The trashcans will stay at our school for many years and will decrease the amount of litter. The stepping stones will be long lasting and will allow for pathways to be made without hurting our environment.

This is a local project that will mostly affect Ridgely Middle School. Our pathway will be near a storm drain so it will prevent runoff into that storm drain. new trashcans. We will also tell students where the trashcans will be located. We will also speak to students on how stepping stones are better for our watershed than sidewalks.

The materials that are needed for the trashcans are paint, paintbrushes, and trashcans. The materials that are needed for the stepping stones are paint, paintbrushes, and stones. Since we need paintbrushes for both the trashcans and stepping stones, we can reuse the paintbrushes. The total cost will be $253.06.

In conclusion Ridgley’s green club is making a stepping stone walkway at our school and painting trashcans to be placed around the walkway. This is highly important, so we can decrease the litter that enters our watershed.

Sort to Save

2018-2019, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Sophia, Sarah, Angelique, Mayli, Harry, Kevin, Will, Helonna, Anyie, Ivan, Bryant, Tikarra, Alexis, Siya, Hailey, Billy, and Maggie noticed how many items that should have been recycled after lunch were ending up in the trash, and how much trash spoiled what had been placed in the recycling bin. They decided that the solution was a better sorting system for trash and recycling in their school cafeteria.

They proposed to change the current way they throw out trash and save recycling in their cafeteria. In their improved system they will have different bins for different lunch items. When all the paper and plastic are recycled, their system will keep them out of the landfills and water below the landfills. They will also be saving custodians time and work.

First they will have a separate bin for trash, food, dirty napkins, and plastic packets.
Then students will pour out milk or juice into a separate bucket. The way students do it now, the milk and food make the trays and cartons gross so that they cannot be recycled.
Then, the straws from the milk cartons will be put in a plastic recycling bin.
Plastic containers will also go into the plastic bin.
Next students will throw their empty milk cartons into a separate bin with other paper.
Once the cardboard trays are empty any food left on the tray can be scraped into the trash bin.
Finally, cleaned cardboard trays will be stacked on racks instead of trays being thrown in the trash. Without this, custodians have to take out the trays from the trash with their hands, and put it in another trash bag.

The school principal has approved this change, and students are working out the details with the custodial staff. Having separate trash racks, bins, and buckets will help a lot. The result will be less plastic in the watershed and more recyclable materials kept clean enough to make recycling easier for everyone.

GOT SOLE?

2018, CINCINNATI, OH, USA
Got Sole
Paige and Aliyah carried out their project within Mount Notre Dame High School. They decided to hold a used tennis-shoe drive and work together with Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe Program to help create new playgrounds for kids around the community. With the help of their mentor, they created several posters advertising the details of the shoe drive and hung them up around school. In addition, they also sent out and electronic school-wide post and made an announcement during the school day. They used Chick-fil-A meals as an incentive to get people to participate. Anyone who brought in three or more pairs of tennis shoes was rewarded with a meal of their choice.

The shoe drive immediately got a lot of buzz from the students. With awards like Chick-fil-A and points towards a potential day off school, the girls had no trouble getting people to participate. After only the first day, the juniors had collectively brought in over 30 pairs of shoes and were winning the competition. By the end of the drive, the seniors ended up getting the win with 56 total pairs of shoes.

At the end of each day, Paige and Aliyah counted up the shoes in the bins, recorded the amount, and loaded the shoes into Aliyah’s car. Once her trunk was full, she made a trip down to the Rookwood Nike store and dropped off all the shoes. The employees there were super nice and grateful for all the hard work Paige and Aliyah did. They got so many pairs of shoes, they ended up having to take two trips to the Nike store!

SAVING THE WORLD ONE LIGHT BULB AT A TIME

2018, CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES

Light Bulb

Luke Erny, Kayla Roeske, and Canton Hausfeld’s idea was to decrease the amount of energy used,and wasted, from lightbulbs in their community. For their project, they gave out new, energy efficient light bulbs to community members in exchange for old incandescent bulbs. This event took place at the Wyoming Civic Center on April 15th. This exchange gave the citizens of Wyoming the opportunity to trade their old light bulbs at no cost. These light bulbs would save them money and more importantly reduce the amount of energy used. Flyers were handed out with the lightbulbs to explain the project and why making the switch to energy efficient bulbs helps the environment and is better than incandescent bulbs.

The energy efficient light bulbs that the group implemented in homes around their community were GE Daylight LED bulbs. They were general purpose, so citizens could use them in as many ways as possible. They were a 60 watt replacement that used only 10 watts in return. These bulbs were predicted to last around 13 years. They save $83 in energy cost vs. a 60 Watt incandescent A19 bulb over the bulb’s life. With this in mind, and because we gave out all 300 light bulbs, our group has saved $24,900 worth of energy overall. The estimated energy cost of a single bulb is $1.20 per year. The annual cost of all these light bulbs would be only $360. This saves people time, energy, and money using the LED energy efficient bulbs rather than regular incandescent.

LED energy efficient light bulbs are better for the environment because they use less energy than regular bulbs which in the end means less pollution is produced. Less energy use reduces the demand from power plants and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Most power plants burn coal, crude oil, and fossil fuels which is inexpensive, but gives off harmful byproducts like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. These bulbs also produce less heat, so cooling your house will cost less. Energy efficient light bulbs last longer than incandescent light bulbs, so you don’t have to buy new ones as often and you aren’t throwing away as many bulbs. 60 pounds of incandescent bulbs were collected from the exchange event and were taken to a recycling center where they were disposed of properly.