King County Green Schools Program honors eight schools for resource conservation

Honored schools include first to achieve Level Three status for water conservation

Eight King County schools earned recognition in January for their resource conservation efforts from the County’s Green Schools Program, which has helped more than 450 schools cut waste since its inception in 2003.

“Each of these eight schools can be proud of how it involves students and staff in learning about conservation and improving conservation practices,” said Dale Alekel, King County Green Schools Program manager.

Success stories for each school can be found at http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/greenschools/participants.asp.

Five of the eight schools completed Level One of the program, which is focused on waste reduction and recycling. In addition to setting up effective recycling programs and achieving a recycling rate of 40 percent or higher, Level One schools complete at least one paper reduction practice, one lunch waste reduction practice and one practice involving durable products. Alekel noted that many participating schools report garbage disposal cost reductions by cutting waste and recycling.

The five Level One Green Schools are:

• Thunder Mountain Middle School – Enumclaw School District
• Creekside Elementary School and Grand Ridge Elementary School –  Issaquah School District
• West Mercer Elementary School –  Mercer Island School District
• Green River Montessori School – a private school in Auburn.

Grand Ridge, West Mercer and Green River recycle more than 60 percent of their solid waste. Green River and West Mercer collect food scraps to be composted. Each school has paper reuse boxes in classrooms, uses durable trays for lunches and encourages students to bring reusable containers for lunches from home.

At West Mercer, lunchroom trash was reduced by almost 90 percent after the school started to promote waste reduction and to collect recyclable and compostable materials.

Creekside, a new school that opened in Sept. 2010, is located in a building that is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified. Every day, Creekside custodian Dave Holbrook reminds students in the lunchroom about recycling and composting.

At Thunder Mountain, students organized a Zero Waste locker clean-out to gather unwanted items for reuse or recycling. Students at this middle school also performed skits in the lunchroom to promote cafeteria recycling. To increase awareness of paper waste, the school held a “no print day.”

King County is also recognizing the following two schools for completing Level Two, which includes energy conservation:

• Camelot Elementary School and Sequoyah Middle School – Federal Way Public Schools.

From a school-wide Earth Awareness poster contest to Green Tips in the school newspaper to periodic resource conservation awards, Camelot has created a culture reflective of the school’s theme, “Camelot Cares about the Earth.” Students placed labels on light switches to remind students and staff to turn them off in unoccupied rooms, and use the motto “Being Green is Cool” to encourage energy conservation.

At Sequoyah, where leadership classes tackle environmental projects each quarter, a campaign was conducted to encourage use of durable water bottles. Students sold durable water bottles decorated with the school logo. Leadership classes conducted energy surveys and made suggestions for improvement, while an October student newsletter offered tips on dressing appropriately for the season.
 
One school, Kent School District’s Scenic Hill Elementary, is the first school in King County to complete the program’s Level Three, which includes a water conservation component. Learn more about Scenic Hill’s success story at http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/greenschools/scenic-hill-elementary.asp.

The Green Schools Program provides hands-on assistance, recycling containers and stickers, and the support needed to set up and maintain effective conservation practices. Participation in the program has grown each year, with 114 schools and nine school districts participating in 2010-11.

Although the program has helped more than 450 schools since its inception in 2003, distinct program levels were started in 2008. Since then, 93 schools have completed a program level.

Schools interested in improving their conservation practices and receiving assistance can contact Alekel at dale.alekel@kingcounty.gov.

Related information

Green Schools Success Stories

Green Schools Program

King County Solid Waste