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Lincoln Middle School
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| When students in Rob Lindsay’s class at Lincoln Middle School examined the school’s solid waste, they found that the cafeteria generated the majority of it, including food waste and non-recyclable Styrofoam trays. | |
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To reduce the waste generated by their cafeteria, the students separated these two streams and tackled each. For food waste, they designed and implemented a process for separating compost and other waste. The problem of Styrofoam took further investigation. |
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Students investigated ways to reduce the expense of introducing paperboard recyclable trays at their school by contacting various companies. Huhtamaki Group came forward and donated the recyclable paperboard trays. |
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Students presented their findings, plan, and recommendations to the school faculty, PTFO, and at a press conference with the superintendent. They explained the purpose and process to the student body in a series of eight presentations. Students also made a film to help explain the process with other local schools in the district. |
| To measure the success of their efforts, students compared the number of full trash bags used and the amount of material recycled before the project with the number of trash bags and the amount of material recycled after the project was launched. More than 300 Styrofoam trays per day were taken out of the waste stream. The number of recycled milk bottles doubled. | |
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The group also interviewed other students to find out what the impact of the project had been on them, and learned that many not only felt that the recycling project was easy and effective, but they also had begun to recycle more at home. |
Community partners included ecomaine, the regional waste corporation; City of Portland Department of Public Works; the Portland Waste Reduction Group; the Portland Public Schools Food Services Department; and Organic Alchemy, a local start-up composting company. The new trays could be the start of something big when it comes to recycling in Portland schools. |
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"This year, I learned that being green means more than turning off the water while you brush your teeth. It can mean turning light bulbs from their evil form to their fluorescent form, it can mean discovering new ways to help your environment and community, it can mean changing Styrofoam to paperboard."
"I have learned that if you don't stop to care a little about the earth, you're going to pay for it in the future."
"Although you might have a small class, you can make a big change."
Student Reflections