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King County Green Schools program success story: Benjamin Franklin Elementary School

Success story: Benjamin Franklin Elementary School

School District: Lake Washington
School Location: Kirkland
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: October 2012

Level One of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in May 2013

Waste reduction and recycling (level one)

  • The school maintained a recycling rate of 54 percent in 2012-13.
  • The school’s Kids First News TV broadcast delivered waste reduction and recycling reminders to the student population monthly.
  • Fourth-grade students took ownership of the school’s recycling process by serving as Recycling Heroes for the younger classes and emptying the classroom recycling containers into larger bins.
  • Students created signs illustrating what items go into each container at lunch.
  • Students helped their peers sort compostable and recyclable materials into the correct containers in the lunchroom, resulting in less contamination and a cleaner cafeteria.
  • Custodian Ernie Atwill assisted with collection of lunchroom recyclable and compostable materials.
  • The lunchroom switched to bulk dispensers and from disposable to durable trays and utensils in 2011-12.
  • The student Green Team held a No Ziploc Day to encourage students to bring reusable containers for their snacks and lunches. On that day, students reduced their plastic bag waste by 50 percent.
  • Green Team students created reuse boxes for one-sided paper in each classroom.
  • To reduce paper use, teachers used scratch paper notepads.
  • Benjamin Franklin reduced its paper use by 70,000 sheets of paper in 2012-13 by switching from paper newsletters to electronic newsletters sent via email.

Other conservation and education actions

  • Students planted garlic cloves and lentils in the school’s greenhouse to learn about plant growth.
  • Benjamin Franklin educated students and parents about the harmful effects of car idling outside the school and collected data in the spring of 2013 to track the average number of seconds each car spent idling.

For more information about the school’s conservation achievements and participation in the Green Schools Program, contact:

Amy Holliday, teacher
aholliday@lwsd.org
Ernie Atwill, custodian
eatwill@lwsd.org
King County Solid Waste Division mission: Waste Prevention, Resource Recovery, Waste Disposal

Contact Us

 Call: 206-477-4466

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