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Fifth Grade Class at Garrison Wins Recycling Contest
 | | Captain Recycle honors all the participants in Garrison School's recycling contest |
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The Ecokids of the GUFS held a school-wide Recycling Contest last week for Grades K-5. During this contest week each class reviewed the recycling procedures and then inventoried and weighed both their recycled items as well as their trash at the end of each day. On Friday totals were tallied and the classes who recycled the most, and had the least amount of regular trash, were honored in an assembly featuring Captain Recycle, aka Pete Salmansohn, environmental educator with Constitution Marsh Audubon Center.
The Second Grade came in third with 16 1/4 pounds of recycling and 12 1/4 pounds of trash, the Third Grade came in second with 18 1/2 pounds of recycling and 10 1/2 pounds of trash, and the Fifth Grade came in first with a whopping 24 3/ 4 pounds of recycling and only 8 1/2 pounds of trash for the week.
All of the classes participated in the weighing-in process each afternoon and mothers of the Ecokids worked with custodians Randy Hart and Jeff Nobile, and supervisor Dick Timmons, to organize the recycling system. All told, the school was able to recycle a total of 110 pounds - 76 1/2 pounds of which was paper. A little research done by the Ecokids found that if GUFS recycled paper at this same rate per week, by the end of the school year they could save more than 3000 pounds (one and a half tons) of paper from the landfill, preserving innumerable trees and saving 10,500 gallons of water, 570 gallons of oil and enough electricity to power an average house for 9 months. (Source of information on recycling provided by Keep Putnam Beauti- ful) Garrison's kids learned this week that they are truly making a difference!
In addition to an ongoing commitment to the school-wide recycling program, the Ecokids have launched the "Just One Thing Initiative" for 2007-2008 which encourages children, parents and faculty to choose just one change in their lives which will help to "green" the environment around them. Some choices include: forgoing plastic shopping bags for reusable ones, changing their light-bulbs to compact fluorescent, shutting off lights when the room is not in use, lowering the thermostat 2 degrees in winter and raising it 2 degrees in summer and many more. All families are encouraged to declare their intentions by signing the "Just One Thing Initiative" book so the community can support and encourage each other in their efforts.
The Ecokids have also established an Ecocycle board where community members can post items they no longer need and swap for items they'd like. Both the "Just One Thing Initiative" and the Ecocycle Board are projects that support the Ecokids mission to promote reuse and recycling in the Garrison community, as well as to foster a respect for the environment and a commitment to preserve it. For more information on either project, please contact Eco-mom, Anne Symmes at 424-2355.
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