Small Grants for National Environmental Education Week
Success Story #1: George Mason Elementary School
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George Mason students demonstrate their lunchtime composting efforts |
For the past several months, George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia has utilized an EE Week Small Grant to reduce their school’s carbon footprint by expanding recycling efforts.
Recycling is an easy way to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change because it uses fewer fossil fuels than extracting, processing, and transporting virgin materials. Recycling also limits emissions due to landfill off-gassing, which produces large amounts of carbon dioxide and methane that can contribute to climate change. Reducing waste and increasing recycling also slows the harvesting of forests. These forests are then able to serve as valuable “carbon sinks” that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
George Mason’s grant was used to purchase 26 new recycling bins, secure another outdoor recycling bin from the City of Alexandria, and implement a recycling program in the school cafeteria. Over the course of the school year, students have been actively engaged in the recycling program by emptying recycling bins on a daily basis and participating in “recycling relays” to help reinforce learning.
Students have also learned about hands-on composting by maintaining a portable worm composting bin in their classrooms. The project has empowered students and teachers alike to become good stewards of their school by demonstrating that waste could be dealt with responsibly to protect the climate, and that the school was playing its part by effectively participating in the City of Alexandria’s recycling program. In June, George Mason will use a portion of their grant money to fund a field trip for 4th and 5th graders to the Covanta waste-to-energy facility, where students will have the opportunity to see first-hand how waste is managed in Alexandria.
Due to the growing success of the recycling program, George Mason has increased its recycling rate by about 30 percent and has purchased another container capable of holding 3,700 pounds of recyclables a year. Congratulations George Mason!
