Prescription Drug Disposal

On September 25, 2010, DEA will coordinate a collaborative effort with state and local law enforcement agencies to remove potentially dangerous controlled substances from our nation’s medicine cabinets. Collection activities will take place from 10:00 a.m. through 2:00 p.m. at sites established throughout the country. The National Take-Back Day provides an opportunity for the public to surrender expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances and other medications for destruction. These drugs are a potential source of supply for illegal use and an unacceptable risk to public health and safety.

This one-day effort is intended to bring national focus to the issue of increasing pharmaceutical controlled substance abuse.

•The program is anonymous.

•Prescription and over the counter solid dosage medications, i.e. tablets and capsules accepted.

•Intra-venous solutions, injectables, and needles will not be accepted.•Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of this initiative.

Find collection site(s) near you.

Please check back often as new collection sites will be added daily.

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Green Club Basket at Silent Auction

The Woolridge Elementary School Green Club has put together a basket of numerous "green" items for the silent auction beind held on May 15, 2010 during the school's Spring Carnival.  Proceeds from the silent auction benfit the Woolridge PTA who, it turn, use the funds to support our school.  The following items have been generously donated by local businesses and individuals.

• Programmable thermostat (including installation) from Hix Heating and Air Conditioning
• (2) fresh produce boxes delivered to your home from Dominion Harvest
• Planet Earth: The Complete Series DVD (5-disc set) from Best Buy
• (2) Recycled Juice Bag Tote Bags
• (3) Recycled Juice Bag Pencil Cases
• (2) Recycled Juice Bag Portfolios
• Recycled Juice Bag Lunch Box
• Circuit Board Desk Clock
• Circuit Board Photo Frame
• Recycled soda bottle laynards
• Recycled newspaper pencil pack of 24
• Woolridge reusable grocery bag
• (2) Snack Taxi Sandwich and Snack bags
• Worm Poop Plant Food
• Pack of CFL Light Bulbs
• MilkMuny recycled wallet

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Earth Day - 2010

April will be a busy month at Woolridge Elementary School. The Woolridge Elementary School Green Club is sponsoring numerous activities to help celebrate Earth Day all month long.

MIXED MEDIA CONTEST

Students of all ages are encouraged to submit a drawing, photo, or essay about a green topic of their choice. Here are some possible ideas:

• Write an essay about why it’s important to recycle.

• Take a photograph of local wildlife or habitat.
• Create an art project using recycled materials.

• Create a comic strip.

Students can submit as many entries as they want.  They can submit their entries to their teacher, or they can e-mail their entries to gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com.  Entries must be submitted by Friday, April 23, 2010.  All entries will be displayed on the Woolridge Elementary School Green Club blog. A panel of teachers and parents will recognize several of the best entries, and winning entries will be posted in the cafeteria for everyone to see.

1ST ANNUAL RECYCLING BONANZA

Just in time for spring cleaning, the Woolridge Elementary School Green Club will be holding its first annual Recycling Bonanza. The event will take place from April 5 through April 30.  We will be collecting the items listed below so that they can be reused or recycled. You can send in items with your child or feel free to stop by the school yourself. Collection bins will be located in the front lobby of the school. Read on and see how you can participate and help out.  Send us an e-mail at gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com if you have any questions about the Recycling Bonanza.

Small Electronics

Electronic waste accounts for 70 percent of the overall toxic waste currently found in landfills, according to Global Futures Foundation. In addition to valuable metals like aluminum, electronics often contain hazardous materials such as mercury. When placed in a landfill, even in small doses, these materials can contaminate soil as well as drinking water.  Click HERE to learn more about the dangerous materials often found in electronics.  The Woolridge Elementary School Green Club is participating in Recycle Forward, an innovative program that recycles used technology to raise money for new technology for schools, and is asking community members for help.

The following is a list of acceptable items:

• Cell phones
• Laptops
• PDAs
• MP3 players
• Digital cameras
• GPS systems
• Video games and consoles
• DVDs
• Calculators

The following is a list of non-acceptable items:

• Computer hard drives
• Monitors
• Computer accessories
• Televisions

Hair and Nylon Stockings

Your next hair cut can be a life saver!  Matter of Trust is an ecological public 501 c 3 charity established in 1998.  Thousands of hair salons and individuals throughout the US and abroad send Matter of Trust their hair clippings.  The hair clippings are shipped to specific US manufacturers who weave them into mats that can soak up oil and clean our beaches and harbours.  Last year, over 2,600 oil spills occurred in the world. They weren't all are high profile, but most had an impact on the environment.

Click HERE to see the hair mats in action.

Recycled hair clippings are also made into hair "booms" which are sausage shaped.  Hair is stuffed into recycled nylons (with mesh to provide a strong exterior).  These booms are then tied together and used to encircle and contain oil spills to keep oil from spreading.

So bring a plastic bag (preferably an old plastic grocery bag so the bag can be recycled) to your next hair cut and ask your barber/stylist to sweep up your cut hair.  Ask the hair salon for any other hair clippings they have laying around while you're at it.  Bring your hair clippings and depost them in the appropriate bin in the school's front lobby.

Don't throw out those nylon stocking if they get a run in them.  Bring them to our Recycling Bonanza, place them in the appropriate bin, and help clean up oil spills and protect marine life.

Pet Supplies

If your pet is anything like mine, you've bought your pet some toys that they never bothered to play with. Those toys typically are sitting in the back of the coat closet or in the top shelf of the pantry. Gather up those gently/never been used toys and other pet supplies such as collars and leashes (no food please) and place them in the appropriate collection bin located in the school's front lobby. All collected pet toys and supplies will be donated to the Richmond SPCA.

Eye Glasses

More than 250 million adults and children worldwide suffer from poor vision because they don't have access to eye exams and eyeglasses. We will be collecting used eye glasses and donating them to LensCrafters so the glasses can go to those in need.

Sports Uniforms
Many of our kids have sports uniforms that they've used for one season and have since outgrown.  Donated sport uniforms will be sent to disadvantaged children in the Phillipines.  Please make sure uniforms are in decent condition and have been washed prior to donating them.

Stuffed Animals
We are collecting small stuffed animals (less than 8", such as a Beanie Baby) to donate to soldiers in Afghanistan.  The soldiers love to give the animals to the local children, and the small size makes them easy to carry.

BUT WAIT!!!  THERE'S MORE!!!

Earth Day
Wear a green shirt on Earth Day to show your support

Book Buddies Clean Up
Fifth grade and Kindergarten book buddies will (weather permitting) spend their time cleaning up the grounds around Woolridge Elementary School. Please make sure your children are dressed appropriately.

Batteries

Did you know that Woolridge Elementary School has a battery recycling program? All kinds of batteries are collected throughout the school year in the main office. Please continue to bring in all of the other types of batteries noted below.

• Household batteries, both rechargeable and non-rechargeable, such as: D-cell, C-cell, AA, AAA, 9-volt, and button cells
• Rechargeable battery packs from: Cell phones, cameras, laptop computers, power tools, etc.
• Handheld electronics: Cell phones, iPods, PDAs, pagers, and so on.
• Any other dry-cell batteries.

What types of batteries will NOT be accepted?

• Lead acid batteries from: Automobile, motorcycle, boats, and outdoor power equipment
• Any other wet-cell batteries

“These Come From Trees”

A single "These Come From Trees" sticker can save around a tree's worth of paper, every year. Hundreds of schools across the country have participated in this program with great success. Many schools have reported up to a 30% reduction in paper towel usage! These stickers will save Woolridge Elementary School over $1,000 over the course of the school year. Our students will place “These Come From Trees” stickers on paper towel dispensers throughout the school, and the Green Club will track our paper towel consumption. Be on the lookout for them and remember to use paper towels wisely.

Neighborhood Cleanup
Everyone is encourage to walk through their neighborhood during Earth Week (April 18 - 24) and pick up litter in their neighborhood.  Send in pictures of you and your child(ren) picking up litter and we will include your picture on our blog!  Just send pictures to gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com.

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February Go Green Classroom Winners

We are happy to report that Woolridge Elementary School is doing a great job of

Turning off the lights when everyone leaves the classroom

Recycling glue sticks

Cafeteria recycling

Shutting down all computers at the end of each day

The February Green Classrooms of the Month are:

• Kindergarten - Mrs. Overby
• First Grade - Mrs. Thorton
• Second Grade - Mrs. Swanson
• Third Grade - Mrs. Bryant
• Fourth Grade - Mrs. English
• Fifth Grade - Mr. Sydow

Congratulations to all students for Going Green!

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Janurary Go Green Classroom Winners

We are happy to report that Woolridge Elementary School is doing a great job of

Turning off the lights when everyone leaves the classroom

Recycling glue sticks

Cafeteria recycling

Shutting down all computers at the end of each day

The January Green Classrooms of the Month are:

• Kindergarten - Mrs. Lambert
• First Grade - Mrs. Knight
• Second Grade - Mrs. Kirk
• Third Grade - Mrs. Encinas
• Fourth Grade - Mrs. English
• Fifth Grade - Mrs. Modena

Congratulations to all students for Going Green!

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Woolridge Elementary School Green Club Now On Facebook

I have created a group on Facebook for the Woolridge Elementary School Green Club. I hope to post links to interesting green news articles and other green tips. I'll also post about some of the possible ideas we're kicking around for the future. The group can also be a good venue for you to provide feedback and share your own ideas and tips.

So please join and invite your friends!

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Coming Soon! Mobile Recycling Station for the Cafeteria

The Woolridge Elementary School Green Club is in the process of designing and constructing a mobile recycling station for the cafeteria. This will serve as a visual reminder to the students for them to recycle and will make recycling easier for them.

Conceptually, the recyling station will look similar to the one in this picture.

Our recycling station will be constructed in a very green fasion. Our recycling station will be constructed of reclaimed kitchen cabinets (three 18" cabinet modules) from the Richmond Habitat for Humanity. It will have two bins for mixed stream recycling (paper, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, etc) and a third bin for juice pouches.

ECO Supply is a provider of green building products here in Richmond. ECO Supply donated a 1-1/4" thick, 48” x 60” sheet of Paper Stone countertop. PaperStone is a composite made from recycled paper and proprietary, petroleum-free phenolic resins made from raw materials like cashew nut shell liquid. Click HERE to learn more about Paper Stone.

The Lowe's on Winterpock Road is also graciously donating supplies towards the construction of the recycling station. We hope to have the recycling station constructed and in use in January 2010. A big thank you to the teachers and parents who helped make this project a reality. Thanks also to everyone who participated in our fundraising events. The funds we raise go towards projects like this one. I will post construction pictures of pictures of the final product in a future post.

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November Go Green Classroom Winners

The November Go Green Classroom Winners are:

• Kindergarten - Mrs. Scates' Class


• First Grade - Mrs. Thornton's Class


• Second Grade - Mrs. Loevenstein's Class


• Third Grade - Mrs. Cousin's Class


• Fourth Grade - Mr. Steuber's Class


• Fifth Grade - Mrs. Brandt's Class
  

These classes are to be commended for most of the students recycling classroom scrap paper, glue sticks, and lunchroom recyclables.

Here is a picture of the tropies awarded to each grade level.

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Green Club Morning Meeting for K - 2

Our first WES Green Club morning meeting for students K - 2 will be held on Thursday, November 19 at 8:30 in the cafeteria. Please arrive on time as the program will promptly start at 8:30. Students will go to their classrooms at the end of the program. Parents are welcome to stay as well. Please contact us at gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com if you'd like to help out.

Students will be learning about the waste generated in the cafeteria and the things we can do to reduce that amount. To help visualize how much trash students generate during lunch each day, we will "dumpster dive" and sort through some of the trash bags and see what we find. I think that what we will find will shock you. After sorting through the trash, we'll talk about the many things we can do to reduce the amount of trash we generate and increase the amount of waste that we recycle. We'll also talk about waste-free lunches and will make a fabric snack bag.

We'll summarize our results in a future post and talk about some of things we can do to reduce the amount of waste we generate.

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Fall Festival

Woolridge Elementary School is holding its Fall Festival on Monday, October 26, 2009. There will be lots of Halloween costumes, activities, music, fun, and of course, pumpkins. It's a great time for parents and kids alike to have fun, see fellow classmates, and meet with teachers.

The WES Green Club is making its presence known at the Fall Festival this year. Volunteers will be selling more of the popular reusable grocery bags. Bags are being sold for $3.50 with proceeds benefiting the Green Club. The bags are blue with a custom white logo as seen on the right. The bag dimensions are 12.5" W x 14" H x 8.5" gusset and come with 20" handles and base stiffener. Other features include:

Hand washable.
Carry up to 22 pounds.
Recyclable.
Water repellent.
Great for other uses like going to the beach

Something else new this year at the Fall Festival are recycling bins. CVWMA has a great program where organizations can borrow recycling bins for their event. Be on the lookout for these bins and make sure to recycle your bottles and cans.

If you're interested in volunteering at future Green Club events, send us an e-mail at gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com or talk to one of our friendly volunteers selling reusable grocery bags.

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Volunteer Sign Up Sheet: Juice Pouch Brigade Cleanup Teams

Woolridge Elementary School participates in TerraCycle's Juice Pouch Brigade Program. The Green Club earns 2 cents for every juice pouch the school ships to TerraCycle (shipping costs are covered by TerraCycle). TerraCycle turns these juice pouches into backpacks and other neat school supplies. To date, we have recycled close to 1,000 juice pouches.

In order to make this program successful, volunteers are needed to rinse out the juice pouches prior to shipment. If you are interested in volunteering, please e-mail Jay Yeman at gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com. Please include your name and the date you wish to volunteer.

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Calling all students!

Don't like all the litter you see on the side of the road?

Want to draw attention to the plight of endangered animals?

Want to share your own green tips?

This is the opportunity to let the whole world know!

The Woolridge Green Club is happy to announce a new activity that's open to students of all ages. The Woolridge Green Club is actively looking for K-5 students interested in contributing content to our website. Students can write articles about environmental issues that are important to them. They can also send in drawings or photos for publication on our website. Here is a sample post from a student at P.B. Smith Elementary School in Warrenton, VA.

Students can e-mail their contributions directly to gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com or deliver hard copies to their teacher at school. Only student's first names will be published to protect their identity. If you are interested, please see Mrs. Pinkston or Mrs. McKissick for more information.

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New Fundraising Opportunity - MilkMuny

More than 510,000 tons of milk and juice cartons are generated every year in the United States, but sadly, less than .05% ever get recycled according to an EPA report of Municipal Solid Waste. Paper cartons ARE recyclable, however, “because of the wax lining, are not universally recycled. Each locality is different, depending on their recycling process capability”, says the National Recycling Coalition.

MilkMuny is an upstart company similar to TerraCycle in that they take a product (in this case milk and juice cartons) that is normally thrown into the garbage and make them into a useful and unique product.


MilkMuny will pay 50 cents to the Woolridge Elementary School Green Club for every carton that we send them. They even pay for the shipping costs! Details will be forthcoming about which cartons we are collecting. So in the meantime, save up those milk and juice cartons, and check out this cool video about MilkMuny.

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WES Reusable Grocery Bags

The Woolridge Elementary School Green club is offering custom reusable grocery bags for sale at numerous school events during the 2009 - 2010 school year. We hope to have them available at the Back to School nights. It is our intent to sell them at the Pumpkin Lighting and Spring Carnival as well.

The bags are made from non-woven polypropylene and are being sold for the low cost $3.50 each. Proceeds will benefit the Woolridge Elementary School Green Club. The bags are blue with a custom white logo as seen on the right. The bag dimensions are 12.5" W x 14" H x 8.5" gusset and come with 20" handles and base stiffener.

Other features include:

• Hand washable.
• Carry up to 22 pounds.
• Recyclable.
• Water repellent.
• Great for other uses like going to the beach

So why should you buy reusable grocery bags? Besides supporting the WES Green club, reusable grocery bags are great for the environment. Click HERE to learn more about the dangers of plastic bags. It takes about eleven uses for a bag to have a positive environmental impact. Every use after that means you are helping the planet by saving 3-4 plastic bags.

If you buy one of our bags, THANK YOU! Please come back to our blog and leave a comment letting us know how you like the bag. Click on the FAQ link at the top of the page if you need help leaving a comment on the blog.

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2008-2009 School Year in Review

During the 2008/2009 school year, Woolridge Elementary School committed to “Go Green Woolridge”. The Environmental Leadership of teachers, Ms. Pinkston, Ms. Fisher and Ms. McKissick along with active parents planned a variety of activities.

Due to the overwhelming interest in the Environmental Club last year, this year each teacher picked a few class representatives to attend the environmental meetings throughout the year. At these meetings, the representatives collected materials and information to take back to the classroom. Each classroom also had a Parent Environmental Coordinator. We also had several activities that the entire school participated. The following is a summary of our activities.

Meetings
The class representatives attended each meeting and then took the information back to the classroom so all of the students could learn about the environment.

• Students learned how fresh plants improve the quality of air in the classroom. Parent representatives provided the plant for the class and students were responsible for taking care of it throughout the year.
• A representative from the Central Virginia Waste Management Association came to a meeting to talk to the students about curbside recycling. This was a kick off to get the entire school to participate in a school-wide curbside recycling pledge drive sponsored by CVWMA. We had over 250 families pledge to recycle at home! Every student that participated in the pledge drive had a leaf with their name on it put on a tree in the cafeteria.
• Students met to discuss how the classrooms could help the environment during Earth Day week and the students made a “lights out” craft.

Recycle Drives
WES pays for a recycling contract to recycle paper, cardboard, and plastics. This contract is paid for with PTA funds. Each classroom has a recycle bin that is emptied regularly into the large outdoor recycle bin by either the parent representative or the students. A recycling program for the school's cafeteria was also started.

We also recycle batteries (over 110 pounds recycled) and printer cartridges. We also recycled hundreds of juice bags through Terracycle’s recycling program and 2,000 glue sticks through Elmer’s glue stick recycling program. At the end of the year, we recycled 2 huge boxes of crayons to use in the Kindergarten classes and to give to our sister school, Beulah Elementary.

Earth Day
Earth Day (April 21) was a huge success with over 300 students and teachers wearing a Go Green Woolridge t-shirt or green on Earth Day. The classrooms participated in an Earth Day poster contest. The K-2 students talked daily regarding earth-friendly activities that they were engaging in at home. The 3rd to 5th grade students made brief morning announcements regarding environmental topics that included a green fact of the day. All the students had the opportunity to watch Dr. Suess' The Lorax movie.

Another great event, though not initiated by the Go Green Team, was the 2009 Summer Safety Day on June 8, 2009. This was a way to get students to be more physically active and staying with the CCPS safe schools initiative. All students were encouraged to walk or ride their bike to school that day and crossing guards were from the Chesterfield Police Department. During the day, the students were instructed on various topics such as bicycle safety, pedestrian safety, swimming, and sun safety.

Finally, the entire Go Green year was documented and shared with parents, teachers and students on the new Woolridge Go Green blog.

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Summer Safety Day - June 8, 2009

The following announcement from Colleen Wood (P.E. Teacher) was recently sent home with students.

As a way to get students to be more physically active and staying with our CCPS safe schools initiative, Woolridge Elementary will be having a Summer Safety Day on Monday, June 8, 2009. We would like to encourage all studetns who are able to walk or ride their bike to school that day and would like to encourage parents to join them. We will have a crossing guard from the Chesterfield Police Department to help students cross Timber Bluff Parkway at the pathway crossing for both the morning and afternoon. Also, during the day, the students will be instructed on various topics such as bicycle safety, pedestrian safety, swimming, and sun safety.

To help us get a better idea of how many students will be participating in our "walk or ride your bike to school day" on June 8, we ask that you fill out the form sent home with your child if you and/or your child will be participating.

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Important Battery Recycling Update

Back in October 2008, we started our very successful battery recycling program at Woolridge Elementary School. Many of you brought in your batteries so they could be recycled and not go into our landfills. The store we were bringing the batteries to no longer accepts alkaline batteries for recycling, so we now pay to ship these batteries so they can be properly recycled.

You can continue to bring in all of the other types of batteries noted below.

• Household batteries, both rechargeable and non-rechargeable, such as:· D-cell, C-cell, AA, AAA, 9-volt, and button cells
• Rechargeable battery packs from:· Cell phones, cameras, laptop computers, power tools, etc.
• Handheld electronics:· Cell phones, iPods, PDAs, pagers, and so on.
• Any other dry-cell batteries.
  

What types of batteries will NOT be accepted?

• Lead acid batteries from:· Automobile, motorcycle, boats, and outdoor power equipment
• Any other wet-cell batteries

So keep those batteries coming in. We recycled 30 pounds of batteries during the months of January and February! This brings our total to 110 pounds. Please remember to not bring batteries in if they are leaking or damaged. Leaking batteries can burn your skin. Also, please remove batteries from any electronics device before putting them in the recycling bin.

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2009 Earth Day Posters

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Earth Week Activities (April 20 - 24, 2009)

Earth Day is on Wednesday, April 22. To celebrate Earth Day and to show our school's commitment to protect our environment, we will have a number of activities going on all week long.

The K-2 students will be polled in their homerooms daily regarding earth-friendly activities that they are engaging in. Parents - talk with your kids about some of the earth-friendly things you do at home beforehand to help them remember.

Each day during Earth Week, some of the 3rd - 5th grade students will be making brief morning announcements regarding environmental topics that will include a green fact of the day.

The students will have an opportunity to watch Dr. Suess' The Lorax movie.

• To round things out, the kids will have a poster contest. The poster contest will be judged by a panel of non-homeroom teachers, and the winners will be pictured on the PTA website and this website for all to enjoy.

On Wednesday, April 22, don't forget to wear your Woolridge Elementary School "Go Green" t-shirt. Over 300 students purchased a t-shirt! T-shirts will be handed out to the students prior to Wednesday. You can still participate if you didn't purchase a shirt and show your support by wearing a green shirt. Let's try and have every student wear green on Earth Day!

Here are some great things the Woolridge Green Club has accomplished so far this year:

• We've started a battery recycling program. So far, we've recycled over 100 pounds of batteries that would otherwise be polluting our landfills.


• Some other things we're recycling are Elmer's glue sticks, printer cartridges, and paper in the classroom.


• We had a "Commit to Recycling Drive" and asked families to sign a pledge to commit to recycling at home. Over 250 families have committed this year.


• Speaking of recycling, we just introduced a recyling program in our cafeteria. We now have recycling bins for cans, bottles, and juice pouches. There's a lot more potential for waste reduction in the cafeteria that we're continuing to work on.
  

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CVWMA and Ukrop’s Partner for Recycling Events

RICHMOND, VA – April 7, 2007 - The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority is partnering with Ukrop’s Super Markets and five local governments in central Virginia to promote electronics recycling in April, in observance of Earth Day. Electronic collection events will be held at four Ukrop’s locations and three other sites. Recyclers at the April events will be eligible to win one of six $100 Ukrop’s gift cards.

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Ukrop’s @ Westpark
9645 W. Broad St
8 am to 2 pm

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Ukrop’s @ Colonial Square
3107 Boulevard (Colonial Heights)
8 am to 2 pm

Saturday, April 21, 2007
Chesterfield Towne Center
11500 Midlothian Tpke
9 am to 2 pm
Sponsored by Chesterfield County

Saturday, April 21, 2007
South Richmond/Manchester area
Hull St and 4th St
10 am to 2 pm
Sponsored by Richmond Clean City Commission

Saturday, April 28, 2007
Ukrop’s @ S. Laburnum
4346 S Laburnum Ave
8 am to 2 pm

Saturday, April 28, 2007
Ukrop’s @ Virginia Center Marketplace
10150 Brook Road
8 am to 2 pm
Sponsored by Henrico and Hanover Counties

Saturday, May 5, 2007
Prince George Courthouse
9 am to 12 pm
Sponsored by Prince George County

A variety of electronic devices, including televisions, computers, home audio and theater equipment and telephones are accepted. Most items can be recycled for free, but a small fee of $5 is charged to recycle computer monitors and televisions ($10 for wood console TVs). These items require special handling due to the leaded glass and mercury they contain.

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