Cascade View students learn about four R’s of recycling
September 30, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Cascade View Elementary School fifth-grader Vishnu Rathnam becomes a recycling superhero at the King County Earth Challenge assembly. Fifth-grader Kelly Keene stands behind him. Photo contributed
Recycling now has four R’s: reduce, reuse, rethink and recycle.Cascade View Elementary School students learned all about it Sept. 24 at a King County Earth Challenge assembly.
“They told us about what to recycle,” said fourth-grader Isabelle Gonzalez as she reeled through the list, including plastic bottles, but not their caps.
Her classmate Manvi Sexena piped in, adding milk cartons as well as cereal boxes and compost items as in banana peels and apple cores.
Recycling can lead to a lot of sorting, but the girls knew why it was worth the effort.
“The landfills will get too much garbage,” Sexena said.
Landfills can contaminate ground water and “affect the water we drink,” Gonzalez added.
During the assembly, students learned how to separate different recyclables and about the importance of rethinking about the materials they use.
“The goal of the King County Solid Waste Division school education program is to encourage students in grades first through 12 to reduce the amount of usable resources going to the Cedar Hills Landfill,” said Dale Alekel, project and program manager for King County Solid Waste Division.
CVES Principal Ray Wilson agreed.
“We’re trying to make kids conscious about what they use,” Wilson said. “We want to see what we can do to help the community and have kids take pride in our school.”
The assembly promoted the four R’s both in and out of school, and it prompted some students to take action. After a class snack, fourth-grader Wilson Toft asked CVES teacher Elizabeth Johnson where he could dispose of his paper towel, which had served as his plate.
“Do you know where you could put paper towels if you had more than a garbage or a recycle bin?” asked Johnson, one of the school’s leading environmental activists. .
The students got it right away, saying that napkins could be composted in the yard waste. Once she finds enough parent volunteers, Johnson said she plans to have families compost materials from the classroom.
Alekel said it was important for students to understand the importance of composting, especially so they could explain the idea to their friends and families.
“About 35 percent of residential solid waste in King County is composed of food scraps, food-soiled paper and other organic materials that can be used to make compost that will nourish the soil,” Alekel said.
Meanwhile, Johnson has focused on other ways to reduce school waste. She encourages her students to reuse plastic sandwich bags or buy ReUsies, washable cloth lunch bags. With money raised by selling ReUsies, Johnson plans to invest in compostable or real lunch bowls for the cafeteria so students won’t have to use styrofoam ones.
The school has already transitioned to real silverware, but is struggling to remind students not to throw away the utensils at the end of lunch.
Johnson also has a scrap-paper drawer and encourages her students to recycle in the classroom. Later this fall, she plans to restart the green team at CVES. The school is already a level one school on the King County Green Schools list. This year, Johnson hopes to make it to level two out of a possible three.
“I feel like we’ve made significant progress in just a month’s time,” Johnson said.
Other 2008-09 Snoqualmie Valley King County Green Schools include Fall City Elementary School, North Bend Elementary School, Snoqualmie Elementary School and Twin Falls Middle School. Two Rivers School also participated in the 2008-09 Green Schools program.
Many of these schools will incorporate green teachings into their classrooms this fall.
“It’s helping the earth, but it’s also helping the district in this budget crisis,” Johnson said.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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