Green view for Valley View Green view for Valley View (November 19, 2004)

School adopts Go Green recycling program
by Teresa C. Brown

Joining the Go Green Initiative ranks, Valley View Elementary School launched the grassroots recycling program on its campus this week.

"This year we're going to be doing aluminum can and plastic bottle recycling," said parent volunteer Patti Ingram. She explained that in the past the school had limited recycling, which included paper and printer cartridges.

But with the Go Green program to guide the school and volunteers, she expects the school to increase its recycling. In addition to collecting aluminum and plastic every Wednesday, there will be more emphasis on recycling paper products, she said.

"We're trying to figure out ways to reduce paper," she said. In the past, the school had been participating in recycling paper; however, those efforts will be stepped up. "Every room has a bin," Ingram said, adding that teachers, volunteers and students will increase efforts to collect all recyclable paper.

With the launch of the program, Valley View becomes eligible for a $3,500 Go Green grant to help expand the program in the future. The school must report four times a year how much waste it has diverted, Ingram said.

If the grant is awarded, the school must use the money to fund environmental education on the campus. Teachers can use it for composting or for supplies needed to turn the recycling into a math lesson that allows students to calculate the tonnage of recycled paper, Ingram explained.

The Go Green Initiative, which provides a five-principle guideline for schools, was developed by parent Jill Buck, a Pleasanton resident whose children attended Walnut Grove Elementary.

The program was piloted at that school in 2002, and since then, it has expanded locally and nationally to schools in Massachusetts, Georgia, New York and Texas.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.