District 194 Increasing Recycling Efforts

Editor's Note: This is a press release from Lakeville Area Public Schools.

Lakeville Area Public Schools, ISD #194, has entered into an agreement with Dakota County Environmental Management to increase the amount of recycling in the district and help reduce waste disposal costs.

Dakota County will be providing recycling containers, labels and technical support at no cost to the district and offering other services such as waste sorts and environmental curriculum materials to bring recycling education into the classroom.

Five Lakeville buildings, Century, Kenwood and McGuire Middle Schools; and Eastview and Lakeview Elementary Schools, have volunteered to pilot the program beginning next fall.  Building staff and students, custodial and food service employees will be involved in the program efforts.

The new trash and recycling containers are designed to offer district wide consistency so that recycling is intuitive and as easy as possible. Trash and recycling containers will be paired throughout the schools to make it easy to choose recycling, versus throwing a recyclable item in the trash because the recycling container is farther away or in an unknown location. The containers and labels will be color coded so that it will make it easier to throw the recycling into the right container.

Every item placed in a recycling container is one less item placed in the trash, which results in fewer items in landfills, less pollution and lower waste management costs for the district.  Students and staff who bring this behavior home will multiply the positive benefits to the environment.

For information on the district's recycling or energy conservation efforts, please feel free to contact Mark Klett, Director of Business Services at 952-232-2028 (maklett@isd194.k12.mn.us).