“Gators Gone Green” member Stephanie Paiva, left, guides a classmate in recycling his milk carton. (Photo submitted)
HUNTINGTON -– It all started about two months ago, when Littleville Elementary School teacher Margaret Petzold noticed all of the milk cartons in the lunchroom trash bins.
“I started talking with Mrs. Bak, who worked with students on composting their leftover food scraps earlier this year,” Petzold said. On Bak’s advice, Petzold searched YouTube for information about recycling and discovered a wonderful video about single stream recycling, called “Toss it Baby”.
Petzold asked her daughter, a 4th grade student at Littleville, and some of her friends if they would like to help form a recycling club at the school. They were interested and the “Gators Gone Green” recycling club was born.
The club wrote a letter to the principal asking for permission to start the project. They then met with Lyn Avery, the advisor of the high school’s award-winning Go Green recycling group, who gave them some suggestions about how to get started. Students also spoke with Joanne Frappier, the school’s custodian; Jodi Fairman, the school’s secretary; and Brian Wing, the district’s Facilities Director, to work out the start-up details.
Four students prepared short speeches, which they presented to the whole school during a December assembly. They also showed the “Toss it Baby” film and club members performed a dance, in an effort to raise excitement about the project.
Letters went home to fourth grade parents inviting students to sign up for the club. About 20 students agreed to join and the club has been meeting during lunch to create posters about what can and cannot be recycled and to plan visits to each classroom to explain the recycling program.
The recycling effort started on January 14, with students taking turns to help monitor the recycling bins and bring materials to the recycling dumpster after lunch. One of the project’s staff members– Petzold, Amy Drenga and Chris Bresnahan—help students bring materials to the dumpster.
Club members continue to work out details and improve the project. They have begun with the third and fourth grade lunch and will bring it to younger students in the future. The club is also currently working on recycling messages that will be used in the morning announcements.
