School District: Highline
School Location: SeaTac
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: June 2009

Level One of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in May 2010

Waste reduction and recycling

• Bow Lake expanded its recycling rate from 33 percent to 39 percent.
• Two student Green Teams were formed to support Bow Lake’s waste reduction and conservation goals. Green Team efforts include weekly monitoring of classroom recycling containers, providing paper reuse bins in all classrooms and work rooms, and collecting used paper bags for the Des Moines Food Bank.
• Student representatives from almost every classroom monitored lunchroom recycling containers and transported classroom recyclable materials to the outdoor recycling Dumpster.
• All recycling bins were labeled with stickers that list what can and can’t be recycled.
• The school began the 2009-10 year with a school-wide assembly and classroom workshops provided by King County
• Portions of two staff meetings were devoted to recycling and waste reduction topics.
• Staff created a public service announcement video to teach students and one another how to recycle in classrooms and the lunchroom.
• The school recycles twenty 32-gallon bags of milk cartons every week. Juice pouches are sent to Terracycle, which uses them to make tote bags and other products.
• Bow Lake participated in the Great Paper Challenge, a school-wide contest to reduce paper use by printing less often, printing double-sided copies, and using the back sides of paper that has printing on one side only. To announce the challenge, the school created a banner by stringing together used paper that had printing on both sides.
• Students helped to eliminate unwanted mail for teachers by sending handwritten requests to be removed from mailing lists, and the school started a new protocol switching from paper memos to email.

Other conservation activities

• One student Green Team conducts a weekly litter patrol on the school’s campus.
• For each classroom, work room and common space in the school, the student Green Team developed a checklist that includes waste reduction, recycling and energy conservation reminders.
• Bow Lake placed reminder stickers provided by the Green Schools Program on all classroom light switches. The school staggers lighting in hallways and classrooms. Instead of overhead lights, several classrooms use sunlight or small lamps with compact fluorescent bulbs.

Comments

"Understanding our impact on the environment has been the driving force. We are a large school, and would like to make our impact a positive one. If we are educating children and staff to conserve resources, they will in turn teach their own families and our community. Rethinking the way we consume has been very powerful for us. Use less, and you end up needing less!"
– Sallyanne Hendren, teacher

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

Sallyanne Hendren, teacher
hendresa@HSD401.org

Frank Eshpeter, facilities services supervisor
eshpetf@HSD401.org