CSWD just wrapped up our third annual Recycle Rally – a friendly inter-school competition that empowers students, raises awareness about resource recovery and conservation, and unites school communities around a common goal: Recycle right!
After a successful first two years, Recycle Rally went on to see eight schools compete in 2019 to see who could be the rock star recyclers of Chittenden County.
And the winner is…
C.P. Smith is the reigning champion of this year’s Recycle Rally Challenge, increasing their sustainability score by 11 points this year from last year’s results!
Located in the New North End of Burlington, C.P. Smith worked hard to hang onto the Recycle Rally Trophy for another year by receiving ALL 10 bonus points through sustainable policies, practices, and prompting others in the community to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
The 2nd and 4th graders that make up the Recycle Right Team, headed up by Mrs. Weishaar and Mrs. Brockway, surveyed 80 trash and recycling bins to find that 86% of all recycling bins were correct. Way to go C.P. Smith!
Although CSWD awards only 10 sustainability bonus points, C. P. Smith submitted over 20 different ways they think outside of the blue bin. Here are some of our favorites:
Mrs. Brockway’s 4th graders are composting their classroom snacks using a worm bin.
A planter made of an old milk carton by the Planeteers Afterschool Club
Students labeled reused buckets to collect paper towels for composting
For even more ideas and all the details on their successes, check out C.P Smith’s Recycle Rally Report.
C.P. Smith is always exploring ways to practice the 3 R’s and improve the quality of life at school and throughout their community. Thanks for all your efforts and spreading your knowledge.
Runner Up
Summit Street School
The sustainability practices at runner-up Summit Street School (SSS) in Essex are also something to shout about . This year the Essex Westford School District (EWSD) eliminated straws in their cafeteria, potentially prompted by SSS’s third-graders who relayed their research findings that straws are terrible for the environment and unnecessarily add to the one landfill in Vermont. That is over 77,500 straws per year that SSS alone is keeping out of the landfill and environment! Their persuasive letters to local businesses resulted in one restaurant ditching plastic straws and only supplying compostable straws upon request. Superb job by all!
Summit Street School also collects foil lids from juice and fruit cups to form aluminum balls big enough (bigger than a squirrel’s head!) to get recycled in the blue bin. Meanwhile, to ensure that all the lunch leftovers are getting sorted properly, the third grade Green Team monitors the sort station during lunch. Keep up the amazing work Summit Street School; the Recycle Rally Trophy is within reach!
Think you’ve got what it takes to participate in next year’s Recycle Rally? Get all the details on our full Recycle Rally page.
