Eleven King County schools recognized for recycling, resource conservation efforts

King County is honoring 11 schools for completing the first level of the Green Schools Program. Participating schools receive assistance on how to conserve resources such as paper, electricity and water, and they are often rewarded with reduced utility and garbage disposal costs.
 
“Each of these 11 schools has involved its whole school community – students, teachers and administrators – in reducing garbage and increasing recycling,” said Dale Alekel, King County Green Schools Program manager.

• In the Highline School District: Gregory Heights Elementary School  
• In the Issaquah School District: Cascade Ridge Elementary School; Challenger Elementary School; Discovery Elementary School; Issaquah Middle School; Maywood Middle School
• In the Tahoma School District: Cedar River Middle School; Lake Wilderness Elementary School; Rock Creek Elementary School; Shadow Lake Elementary School; Tahoma Middle School

These schools completed level one of the program by initiating or improving recycling practices and engaging in waste-reduction strategies, such as decreasing paper use. Success stories for each school are at http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/greenschools/participants.asp.

After starting to recycle food scraps and making other recycling improvements, Lake Wilderness Elementary School went from a 27 percent recycling rate to recycling 55 percent of its total solid waste.

Of the 11 schools that completed level one in the fall of 2009, these eight schools recycle food scraps and other organic materials that are collected for composting: Cascade Ridge Elementary; Challenger Elementary; Cedar Ridge Elementary; Discovery Elementary; Issaquah Middle; Lake Wilderness Elementary; Maywood Middle; and Shadow Lake Elementary.

The City of Issaquah helped schools in the Issaquah School District to add food scrap recycling by providing a food scrap recycling expert and training to schools.

“Support from King County and the City of Issaquah has been invaluable in helping our schools to initiate a variety of conservation efforts,” said John Macartney, Issaquah School District resource conservation manager.

Participation in the King County Green Schools Program has grown each year. To date, 10 of King County’s 18 school districts have received assistance or are now participating, and in doing so they have increased recycling, reduced energy and resource consumption, and engaged students in benefiting the environment.

Alekel said the Green Schools Program will be busy in 2010 as it helps 95 schools. Many of the schools that completed level one will be working on level two, which includes energy conservation, plus an additional conservation category that each school selects:

• Environmental education;
• Environmental purchasing;
• Green building;
• Hazardous materials management;
• Litter reduction; or
• Transportation choices.

Schools that go on to the third and final level of the program add an additional selection from the list, plus water conservation.

The program has helped more than 300 schools cut waste and save resources since its inception in 2003. By providing hands-on assistance, including school visits, tailored recommendations, help with outreach to students and staff, and recycling containers and stickers, the Green Schools Program provides schools and school districts with the support they need to set up and maintain effective conservation practices.

In addition to providing schools with the hands-on help they need, the program offers a Web site, www.kingcounty.gov/GreenSchools, with useful tools and resources. Schools interested in receiving assistance to improve conservation practices can contact Alekel at dale.alekel@kingcounty.gov.

Related information

Green Schools Success Stories

Green Schools Program

King County Solid Waste