The third-graders and teachers noticed pound after pound of paper being thrown away with their trash.
Throwing away that much recyclable paper didn’t sit well with the teachers and students at Webb Elementary School in Franklin.
So, some third-graders and teachers started a recycling club, where students would encourage their peers to recycle and take charge of collecting the recycled goods twice a week. Third-graders were chosen, since older, fourth-grade students were spearheading the school’s book store.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“We saw custodians putting paper and trash in one bin,” said Bella Wilde, a third-grader. “We thought it wasn’t right to do that.”
And teachers noticed that in a lot of instances, all of the school’s trash was being thrown away together, said Cheryl Moran, principal.
Teachers and students forgot that bins ready to collect recycled paper were around the school in an effort to reduce the school’s carbon foot print.
“Sometimes the message was lost that we recycled,” Moran said.
Students wanted to work to change the amount of trash that Webb Elementary School staff and students threw away.
Teachers and students were reminded that classrooms have recycle bins where recyclable paper goods can be placed.
A group of students volunteered to go around the school two mornings a week to empty the bins.
Each week they estimate that they save about 30 pounds of recycled paper from the trash, students said.
“I felt like we are helping the community a lot,” said Abby Walters, a third-grader.
On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, before schools starts, the students each take a floor and a row of classrooms and empty the recycling into a bin. The recycling is than handed over to the custodians who make sure it is recycled.
And students like knowing that they are helping clean up the world a bit, said Max Spongberg, a third-grader.
