I Didn't Know That Was Recyclable! - Shower Poofs

Don't throw away your shower poof after you have finished using it.  Recycle it!  Shower poofs are made of #4 plastic.  This type of plastic can be recycled where ever plastic grocery bags are recycled.  All you have to do is cut off the rope/string before recycling it.

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

Battery Recycling Update - January 2010

It's been a while since I posted about the battery recycling program at Woolridge Elementary School. The battery recycling program started back in October 2008, and it has been a tremendous success. Many of you brought in your batteries so they could be recycled and not go into our landfills. So far we have recycled over 150 pounds of batteries.

In 2009, we had some bad news when the store we were bringing the batteries to stopped accepting alkaline batteries for recycling. The good news is that, because of our fundraising efforts, the Green Club pays to ship these batteries so they can be properly recycled. Batteries are shipped to Battery Solutions where the batteries are sorted according to their different types. Most of the batteries received at Woolridge are alkaline batteries. They are placed in molten mill furnaces as a feedstock. The zinc from the batteries is fumed off into a vacuum bag house for recovery, while the end metal product is used to make low-grade steel (i.e. rebar). Click HERE to learn how the other different battery types are recycled.

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

So keep those batteries coming in. 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.

Read More »»

Make Your Holiday Season Greener

Wrapping paper isn't accepted by most recycling facilities (including CVWMA) because it contaminates the recycling process. "But why?", you ask. It's because wrapping paper is not accepted by some recycled paper mills. There are a number of reasons for this. Wrapping paper is often dyed, laminated and/or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver colored shapes, glitter, plastics, etc which cannot be recycled. Some wrapping paper is very thin and contains few good quality fibres for recycling. A lot of wrapping paper has sticky tape attached to it which makes it very difficult to recycle.

Instead of using wrapping paper this year, try something different. Create some great looks and reuse items found around your house.

Bows

Bags

Fabrics

Newspaper comics

Magazines

Decorative boxes

These scrap items can be used to make that gift even more special. Some of these items can also be reused year after year.

Make sure you recycle all of those cardboard boxes that the toys and other presents come in. The plastic bags that most toys and electronics come in can also be recycled at facilities that recycle plastic grocery bags.

And if you get a new computer, cell phone, digital camera, or other electronics, don't just throw out the old ones. Bring your old electronics to a company like Best Buy, who has a great e-cycling program.

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

Dumpster Diving - The Results!

We had a great time at our first green club meeting of 2009 learning how to green our lunch. The kids learned how NOT to pack a lunch from Wendy Wasteful and how to pack a lunch from Go Green George. Then we talked about how 16 bags per day (almost 3,000 bags per year) of cafeteria trash are landfilled from our school alone! We talked about how to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We went outside and looked through a bag of cafeteria trash and found lots and lots of trays, some recyclables, chip bags, milk cartons and some untouched food. We talked about how we could reuse the black trays, how to get the kids to recycle better inside the lunchroom, what to do with those chip bags and if we could ever use washable trays again.

I still would like to see us try and use washable trays for one day (maybe during Earth Day). Don't you think the kids should experience a nostalgic moment like taking their tray to the window? One possibility to make this happen would be for parents volunteers to wash the trays that day.

Read More »»

What's One Can?

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

Recycling Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are everywhere. Although often quoted as consuming oil resources, most plastic bags are actually made from natural gas. The bad news is most plastic bags are not recycled. Part of the reason is because many local recycling agencies do not accept plastic bags. They are lightweight, fly out of the backs of recycling trucks, and become litter. They also jam up the recycling machines and cause expensive repairs. The good news is that most plastic bags are recyclable. Stores such as Ukrops, Walmart, Food Lion, Kroger and Whole Foods all accept plastic bags for recycling. Although the United States Environmental Protection Agency stated in 2000 that only 1% of plastic bags were recycled, significant attention resulted in a 700% growth in the recycling industry as new capacity led to a 7% rate.

When most people think of plastic bags, the first thing they think of are plastic grocery bags. But did you know that many other types of plastic bags can be recycled along with your plastic grocery bags as well? All of the following can be recycled right along with your plastic grocery bags.

• newspaper bags
• dry cleaning bags
• bread bags
• produce bags
• toilet paper, napkin, and paper towel wraps
• furniture wrap
• electronic wrap
• plastic retail bags (hard plastic and string handles removed)
• grocery bag
• zip lock bags (remove hard components)
• plastic cereal box liners (if it tears like paper do not include)
• Tyvek(no glue, labels, other material)
• diaper wrap (packaging)
• plastic shipping envelopes (no bubble wrap/remove labels)
• case wrap (e.g., snacks, water bottles)
• All clean, dry bags labeled #2 or #4.

There are some types of plastic bags that should NOT be included. The following are considered contaminants and could jeopardize recycling programs:

• NO food or cling wrap
• NO prepackaged food bags including frozen food bags (e.g., prewashed salad bags)
• NO film that has been painted or has excessive glue
• NO other bags or films
• NO bio-based or compostable plastic bags

So when going to the grocery store, it's preferred that you use reusable grocery bags. But a certain amount of plastic is unavoidable. So let's make sure to recycle all we can.

Read More »»

Recycling Smoke Detectors

If you're like me, I replace the batteries in my smoke detectors every fall when we switch back to Daylight Standard Time. The National Fire Protection Association strongly recommends the replacement of home smoke alarms every 10 years. Smoke alarms become less reliable with time, primarily due to aging of their electronic components, making them susceptible to nuisance false alarms.

According to the U.S. EPA, both photoelectric and ionization smoke alarms contain plastic, electronic circuit boards and in some cases, batteries. Since most smoke detectors contain small amounts of radioactive materials, they are not readily accepted at most hazardous waste dropoffs. Federal regulations stipulate that all smoke detector packaging must contain the company’s mail back address so that they may be disposed of properly. Please call the company for instructions on mailing the detctors back properly.

Read More »»

Fall Festival Recap

The Woolridge Elementary School Green Club was active at this year's Fall Festival. Parent volunteers sold more of our popular reusable grocery bags. Thank you to those that purchased bags and helped support our club. Send us an e-mail or leave a comment on the blog letting us know how you're enjoying your bags.

The Fall Festival was also the first event that the Green Club has provided recycle bins. I was at the event from 6:00 - 7:00 and saw numerous people using the bins. It proves the point that people will recycle if the facilities are made available to them. I didn't notice much trash mixed in with recyclables either. Most of the trash was from the juice pouches being sold at the event. Thanks to everyone for recycling. Be on the lookout for the recycle bins at future Woolridge events such as the Spring Carnival.

A special "thank you" to the following parent and teacher volunteers who helped us out last night. My apologies if I left anyone out.

• Kathie Smith
• Sophie Lanniel
• Tammy Newman
• Lee Ann Tragle
• Kim Owens
• Don Huff
• Deborah Pinkston
• Raye McKissick

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

Common Recycling Mistakes

I have learned a lot about the do's and don'ts of recycling since becoming a WES Green Club volunteer. Here are some important things to remember when recycling at home, school, or work.

1. Check with your local recycler: Different recycling companies accept different materials for recycling. Just because something is "recyclable" doesn't mean that it can be put in the recycling bin. Including items not accepted by CVWMA creates additional work for the sorters and may lead to contamination of the materials they do recycle. Click HERE to see what CVWMA does and does not accept for recycling.


2. Don't put your recyclables in garbage bags or plastic bags: Sorting your recyclables and placing them into plastic bags is not necessary. The facility is equipped to do all the sorting. The plastic bags frequently jam up the machines at the recycling facility which are expensive to repair.


3. Don't put plastic grocery bags in your recycle bin: Plastic bags are recyclable but are not accepted by CVWMA. As previously mentioned, they jam up the machines at the recycling facility. The bags are also lightweight and can easily fly out of the recycling trucks and become litter. Save your plastic grocery bags and return them to stores like Ukrops and Walmart for recycling. Better yet, purchase some WES Green Club reusable grocery bags.


4. Not all #1 and #2 plastics are created equal: CVWMA accepts narrow-necked plastic bottles labeled with a number 1 or number 2 ONLY. This includes many soda and water bottles, milk and juice jugs, and household cleaner bottles. Plastics with other numbers or 1 and 2 plastics that are not bottles (like margarine tubs and other food containers) are not recyclable in this program. They are from the same family of plastics, but the two forms have been slightly modified to achieve different properties for strength, fluidity, crack resistance, etc. Even when the plastic number is the same, the manufacturing processes to create those qualities make the two containers incompatible. Including these incompatible materials in recycle bin contaminates the rest of the batch causing it to be disposed in the landfill.


5. Don't leave the tops on your bottles: Plastic bottles are typically made of #1 plastic and the tops are made from #5 plastic. Leaving the caps on the bottles contaminates the rest of the plastic. Too much contamination makes it impossible to sell the recycled plastic to bottle manufacturers. The recycling company has no choice but to throw the contaminated plastic into the landfill. If you want to recycle your #5 bottle tops, you can send them to your local Aveda salon for recycling.


6. Don't include juice or milk cartons: CVWMA use to accept these cartons for recycling. They no longer accept the cartons any more because there isn't a local market for recycled plastic coated paper. The WES Green Club participates in a carton recycling program with MilkMuny. Contact us at gogreenwoolridge@gmail.com if you're interested in participating.

UPDATE (12/17/09) - For the longest time, I have been including frozen food dinner boxes (like Lean Cuisine) in my recycling bin. I recently contacted CVWMA and they informed me that these bins should not be included in the recycling bin because they are waxed coated.

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

Recycle Your Old Pots and Pans

From Earth 911:

Cookware manufacturer Calphalon is offering a mail-in program called Calphalon ReNew, which allows consumers to recycle obsolete pots and pans of any brand when they purchase new Calphalon products.

The Calphalon Unison cookware will come complete with a shipping box, and pre-paid shipping labels are available to print online. Once old cookware is packaged, it can be dropped at a FedEx location for free recycling. Calphalon will also mail back two, 100 percent recycled cotton reusable shopping bags to participating recyclers.

Read More »»

Woolridge Elementary School Recycling Program

OBJECTIVES

1. Reduce the amount of solid waste leaving the school.
2. Recycle the maximum amount of solid waste leaving the school.
3. Actively engage the students in reducing and recycling efforts be incorporating this program into the academic curriculum.
4. Develop data to measure success of recycling program in subsequent years.

RESOURCES

1. Trash can(s) – 1 per classroom; teacher selects location in his/her classroom.
2. Recycle bin(s) – 1 per classroom; teacher selects location in his/her classroom .
3. Digital scale – 1 per grade level; teachers in each grade level to decide where the scale is to be stored in between weigh-ins.

PROCEDURE (SHEET 1)

1. On a designated recycling weigh-in day each week, selected students in each class will weigh their recycle bin.
   a. Student selection will be done on a class-by-class basis.
   b. Each bin should be weighed full and then empty to determine the actual weight of the recyclable items.
2. If the classroom recycle bin is not full each week, it is acceptable to weigh every other week instead.
3. Each grade level should fill out the “Recycling Weigh-In” sheet at the weigh-in.
4. Once the classroom recycle bin is weighed, it should be emptied into the grade level rolling recycling can. The school’s custodial staff will empty the large rolling recycling can into the outdoor recycling dumpster.
5. Turn in the completed Recycling Weigh-In sheet to the recycling coordinator each week. At the discretion of the teacher, it can be turned in at the end of each month with multiple entries.

PROCEDURE (SHEET 2)

1. Select one fill week in the months of September, January, and May.
2. During this one full week, weigh the trash coming out of each classroom at the end of every day.
3. Sum the weight of trash leaving the classrooms.
4. During and/or after each of the three “trash weigh-in” weeks, discuss what is being placed in the trash cans, why that trash is being generated, where the trash is going, and how the overall trash generation can be decreased in coming months.

ADDITIONAL CALCULATIONS
The following metrics will be tracked by the Recycling Coordinator and reported back to the school monthly.

1. Pounds of trash per person.
2. Pounds of recycled material per person.
3. Ratio of [trash/person]/[recycling/person]
   a. Goal: Keep this number lower than 1.
4. Trend of [trash/person]
   a. Goal: Decrease trash/person over the three trash weigh-ins.
5. Trend of total waste generation/person [trash + recycled material]/person].
   a. Goal: Decrease total waste leaving school over the monitoring period.
   b. Note: Total trash leaving school will be estimated for this calculation using data from the three trash weigh-in weeks.

After the first 4 months of data collection, other specific waste reduction goals (with associated metrics) may be set at the discretion of the school administration and Green Club.

ADDITIONAL RULES

1. This program will only include waste streams generated in regular classrooms and front office/administration spaces.
2. Specialty classrooms (art, music, PE) and the Cafeteria are not included in these calculations. It is encouraged to reduce, reuse, and recycle in these spaces, even though weigh-ins for these spaces will not be included in this “weigh-in” program.
   
   
   

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

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.

Read More »»

Recycling Video

Did you ever wonder what happens to your recyclables after they get picked up from the end of your driveway? Click on this video to find out.

Thanks to the Robious ES Green Club for the link.

Read More »»

Open Forum: Recycling

Classroom Recycling Program

• How often are the recycling bins emptied?
• What percentage of paper waste in the classroom is being recycled?
• Is trash or other inappropriate material making its way into the recycling bins?
• Would it be possible to have the students regularly measure and record how much paper is being recycled?
• How can this program be improved and made more convenient? How can we increase participation?

Cafeteria Recycling Program

• Is trash or other inappropriate materials making its way into the recycling bins?
• Would it be possible to have the students regularly measure and record how much cafeteria waste is being recycled?
• Does the cafeteria staff recycle cardboard and other recyclable materials?
• Encourage parents to use reusable containers in lieu of plastic bags and bottles.
• How can this program be improved and made more convenient? How can we increase participation.
• How feasible would it be to start a composting program?

Battery Recycling Program

• How can this program be improved and made more convenient? How can we increase participation?

Glue Stick Recycling Program

• What percentage of glue sticks are being recycled?
• How can this program be improved and made more convenient? How can we increase participation?

Other Recycling Programs

• Does the school recycle cardboard boxes?
• How does the school dispose of old books? Is there any potential for reusing or recycling them?
• How does the school dispose of old computers/electronics?

Read More »»