The students at Cabrillo Elementary School in Fremont have set some ambitious recycling goals for themselves. By May 6, they want to have no more than 20% of their trash be recyclables and organics. With just over a week left to go, they’re well-poised to meet their target.
Cabrillo Elementary’s Ready Set Recycle Challenge—a project spearheaded by Cabrillo’s 6th grade student council—is aimed at reducing the amount of organics and recyclables going into the garbage bin at their school. The challenge was designed to develop awareness and engagement among the student body for the importance of recycling and empower students to be spokespeople and leaders in their schools, their families and their communities.
One month into the challenge, which kicked off March 28, only 27% of the garbage that was audited was recyclable or organic material. This marks a dramatic improvement from the students’ starting average of 80% compostables and recyclables found in garbage bins. The school has significantly increased its recycling and composting output, and in doing so, has been able to reduce the amount of landfill waste produced from 9-10 bags per day down to just one bag!
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Student “auditors,” with the help of custodian Greg Rivas, will continue with weekly audits of the trash in Cabrillo’s lunchroom to make sure they are staying on top of their goal. Students have also been tracking school progress with graphs and charts, and the entire school will be rewarded if they meet their overall goal, along with benchmarks along the way. All rewards will be funded by StopWaste.Org’s Ready Set Recycle initiative, which was developed to help Alameda County reach its goal of no more than 10% good stuff in the trash by 2020.
For more information on the Ready Set Recycle initiative, visit www.readysetrecyclecontest.org.
