September 25, 2009
‘Green is in now’
Students, teachers around the diocese are busy recycling
By MARY ANN HUGHES (Message staff writer)
As you walk through the hallways and look into the classrooms at Memorial High School there are brightly-colored containers everywhere for empty plastic bottles and aluminum cans.
“Green is in now,” says Maryann Watson, a science teacher at the Evansville school. She’s the one who is largely responsible for all the recycling efforts going on there, along with fellow science teacher Kim Murphy.
The recycling efforts started a few years ago when Keep Evansville Beautiful challenged schools to collect plastic bottles. “It got the ball rolling, and once we got the hang of that we added aluminum cans, and at the same time we started recycling cardboard. The amount of cardboard that comes out of this building is unbelievable.”
At first the students in the environmental science classes were in charge of emptying the containers. That has expanded to include the National Honor Society members at the school
Overall, the response from the student body has been “pretty good,” Watson said. “A lot of it is habit.”
She believes they are learning “a great life lesson. We talk about how much comes out of this building — and we are just one school.”
She adds, “It’s a huge undertaking. It’s messy but worthwhile, to keep it out of the landfill. Hopefully the kids get the idea of the life cycle of an object, from fabrication to disposal, and they get into the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ thing.”
Principals in Catholic schools throughout the Diocese of Evansville were invited to share information about recycling efforts in their schools. Here is their information.
EVANSVILLE, VANDERBURGH COUNTY
• All classrooms at Holy Redeemer School contain recycling bins, said Karen Dick, science teacher.
“Students are asked to recycle all classroom paper and cardboard. The school also recycles all cardboard boxes and plastic water bottles from lunch. Individual classrooms have lessons on the environment, recycling and many complete art projects from recycled material.
• Resurrection School in Evansville has a “Clean Team” consisting of third and fourth graders who volunteer to serve on this committee, said Angie Johnson, principal.
“Twice a month the Clean Team and their eighth grade supervisors visit each classroom to take recyclables out to the recycling dumpster. We recycle cardboard, paper, plastic and aluminum cans.
“Every member has a specific room or rooms that they are in charge of serving. It reduces the amount of trash that goes into our trash dumpster and keeps us all ‘green’ as we help our environment.”
• “I do recycling at St. Joe,” said Franciscan Sister Bridget Arnold, a teacher at the Vander-burgh County school.
“The children recycle paper in each classroom and office space. We collect about every two weeks and might collect a couple hundred pounds a month. We also recycle cardboard from the boxes in the cafeteria and office.
“We recycle aluminum cans and the money we make is used to defray the cost of bus payment for field trips. We usually make $300 a year if the price of cans is up.
“We also compost food scraps from the kitchen for our garden. We have an Earth Compost tub. The children are very aware of recycling and do it on their own and many times complain if they see a soda can in the trash or paper in the wrong container.”
• St. Theresa School currently recycles empty ink/toner cartridges, said Theresa Berendes, principal. “We receive a minimal cash refund on these cartridges but recycle these cartridges more for the recycling aspect. We also recycle aluminum cans.”
Karen Waller received a Ro-tary grant for first and second grade classes to learn about the importance of recycling paper. Each class will receive a paper recycling receptacle, thanks to the grant.
“In the past we have recycled #1 and #2 plastics. We would consider such a project again if we could locate a business partner who would provide a large recycling bin and empty it for us. We know that there are many St. Theresa families interested in plastic recycling. Finding a way to make it convenient for all is the sticking point.”
GIBSON COUNTY
• “Holy Cross School recycles cans in efforts to keep them out of landfills and support various school programs such as the spelling bee, accelerated reading and playground equipment,” said Tracey Unfried, principal at the Fort Branch school.
“Our second and third grades have created their own innovated recycling programs each year.
“We are also going ‘green’ with cleaning products for a safer and healthier building.” George Fleming, maintenance supervisor at the Catholic Cen-ter and at Sarto Retreat House in Evansville, “has been working with our school to make this happen. He is a valuable resource with a wealth of know-ledge and experience. George has been most helpful in finding the green friendly products that make it better for our students and staff and are even more cost efficient.”
JASPER
“Holy Family School has not recently gone ‘green,’” said teacher Paula Getzin. “The tea-chers and staff have recycled paper and cardboard materials for 13 years. Each week the middle school Builders Club members collect and organize the recycled items for the Dubois County Recycling Center pick-up.”
The students also collect aluminum cans and can tabs. “In 2000, the school started recycling can tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. Holy Family School has donated 2 million tabs, and we are working on our third million. From the kitchen to the classrooms, all staff members and students are involved in the recycling process at Holy Family,” Getzin said.
POSEY COUNTY
Denny Hargett is the science teacher at St. Philip School in Posey County. He explained that the parish has been recycling aluminum cans for several years. “They have a large trailer that is available for anyone to recycle cans. We also recycle cardboard from the school. We store it in the parsonage garage. The school has been recycling paper for several years also. We have bright blue waste cans with the recycling logo in each room.
“Last year we began an aluminum can and plastic bottle program in the school. I ob-tained large cardboard barrels from the Posey County Waste Management District. Our art teacher, Chastity Bates, supervised the painting/decoration of the barrels that have been placed at key locations in the school. We formed a committee from the student council to collect and sort the materials.
“Jennifer Baehl, one of our technology teachers, is handling the recycling of printer cartridges and cell phones.”
• Ron Pittman, principal at St. Wendel School in St. Wendel, said students “recycle paper, cardboard and printer cartridges.”
• Vickie Wannemuehler, prin-cipal at St. Matthew School in Mount Vernon, said “individual classrooms started recycling paper in 2001.
“Posey County Solid Waste implemented the school recycle project around four years ago We now recycle in the kindergarten through grade five classrooms, kitchen, school office and parish office.”
The school recycles the following items: classroom paper, junk mail, magazines, books, glass, aluminum cans, tin cans, plastic containers, plastic grocery bags, batteries, cardboard and printer ink.
“PCSW empties our large recycle bins/boxes, located on the back side of the school building, every other week. They also make extra runs to empty our containers if we have special events and need their service.
“Each classroom has its own recycle bin with three compartments: one for paper, one for plastic and one for cardboard. This makes the sorting process much easier and less time-consuming for the custodians.
“We’ve been told that we recycle more per student than any other school in Mount Vernon!”
ROCKPORT
“The eighth graders at St. Bernard carry out our recycling program,” said Bonni Spencer, teacher.
“Every Friday they collect the recycling bins from the classrooms and offices and empty the contents into the assigned dumpsters. As a school we recycle cardboard, paper, plastic, magazines and tin cans. Giving the eighth graders this job makes them more aware of what can be recycled and how much trash can be eliminated by recycling.
“The local Solid Waste Man-agement officials come to our school twice a year and conduct a special recycling contest among the local schools. St. Bernard has won this contest in the past.”