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King County Green Schools program success story: Issaquah Valley Elementary School

Success story: Issaquah Valley Elementary School

School District: Issaquah
School Location: Issaquah
Began participating in the Green Schools Program: participated from 2004-07, then again in 2010-11

Level One of the Green Schools Program: Achieved in April 2011

Waste reduction and recycling

  • Issaquah Valley Elementary increased its recycling rate from 44 percent to 54 percent during the 2010-11 school year.
  • Students and staff are dedicated to recycling throughout the school, a result of the school’s longstanding effort to actively promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
  • In 2007, with assistance from the City of Issaquah, the school started to recycle food scraps. In the lunchroom, students place food scraps and other compostable materials into a composting container that is collected by Cedar Grove Composting. Students then place other recyclable materials such as plastic bottles into a recycling container.
  • In 2008, the Issaquah School District replaced disposable Styrofoam trays with durable, reusable trays.
  • On indoor recycling containers throughout the school, students placed stickers that list what can and can’t be recycled.
  • In 2010-11, the City of Issaquah worked closely with the school to pilot eco-leaders, a new environmental initiative for fifth grade leaders. Four times during the year, fifth grade students discussed environmental topics with all classes in the school. The topics included recycling, composting, and waste reduction in the cafeteria and the classroom. On each topic, students made presentations and posters that were placed in classrooms. Fifth grade students also made morning announcements about conservation practices, created worm bins for classrooms, created a video, made green team t-shirts and helped to boost recycling in the staff room.
  • As part of the fifth grade eco-leaders project, students and staff held a waste-free lunch day to promote reusable containers, and finishing lunch and milk. As a result, they reduced lunch garbage weight by 23 � pounds per day, or the equivalent of 2 � tons per year. Garbage volume was reduced by more than 30 gallons per day or 30 cubic yards per year. On the waste-free lunch day, during three lunch periods, the school’s 475 students created a total of only seven gallons of garbage.

Award

  • Lead custodian Dusty Duke received a King County Earth Hero at School award in April 2005 for his exceptional environmental stewardship and leadership at Issaquah Valley Elementary.

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

John Macartney, Resource Conservation Manager
Telephone: 425-417-8001
Email: johnmacartney@msn.com

Issaquah Valley Elementary School
To reduce waste, students pack their lunches in durable, reusable containers.
Issaquah Valley Elementary School
Student-created poster encourages students to drink their milk before recycling the milk container.
Issaquah Valley Elementary School
The school’s 475 students generated only seven gallons of garbage on Waste Free lunch day.
Issaquah Valley Elementary School
Recycling and food scrap containers are ready for students to sort recyclable and compostable materials.
King County Solid Waste Division mission: Waste Prevention, Resource Recovery, Waste Disposal

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