Herrick Locker Clean-Out Gives New Life to Used Supplies

Not only did this year’s locker clean-out at Herrick Middle School help pave the way for a fresh start to the 2011-12 school year, it also resulted in the collection of 766 pounds of re-usable supplies.

During the last few days of the 2010-11 school year, donation boxes were placed in each classroom, and students were asked to fill these boxes with materials in good condition that they no longer wanted. Students were also asked to empty any plastic water bottles remaining in their lockers and place them in recycling bins. The collection efforts were a contest between homebases, with the winning homebase collecting 50 pounds of re-usable supplies.

Staff sorted through the 766 pounds of collected supplies and took items they wanted for their classrooms. Some of the remaining supplies will be used to run a school store next year, and some will be donated to School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education (SCARCE), which presented to the seventh-grade science classes this year.

“We are very excited about our recycling efforts. We filled our recycling bins outside, doubled the amount of recycling that occurred, left the hallways cleaner than in previous years, and deposited very little waste in the garbage cans,” said social worker Julie Ekman, who spearheaded the collection.