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Recycling Program : Biotech Academy Wins Green Award from Kenosha Sierra Club

The ITA Biotech Academy Recycling Program was recently awarded the "Green Award" from the Southeast Gateway Group of the Sierra Club. The Recycling Program was created by student's in Mr. Kranich's Environmental Science II class during the 2006-07 school year.

The ITA Biotech Academy recycling Program is unique in its structure. It allows and requires that students, teachers, administrators and custodians are equal partners in making recycling a success.

How to Implement a Recycling Program that Works

At our school, environmental class students first wanted to determine if other students were agreeable to aq committment to recycle the materials they use at school. The survey results indicated that students overwhelmingly wanted to make recycling happen.

The next step was to determine the reasons why past recycling programs at our school failed. The students were careful not to assign blame to any one group. After several meetings to gain input from teachers, custodians and administrators the following issues became the focus of our work:

  1. All students and staff will need to be educated and informed about what materials are recycleable. Click here to learn about our recycling communication efforts.
  2. Money for materials and other expenses will need to be raised or received. Click here to learn about our building's needs and where our funds came from..
  3. Every classroom and large group area will need a separate container to receive all permitted recycleable materials - no exceptions. Click here to learn about what areas were targeted for collecting recyclables and what areas were not.
  4. Recycling efforts will need to be visually monitored on a regular (preferably daily) basis. Click here to learn how we keep recycling efforts by students and staff at a high level.
  5. Concerns raised by the custodial staff will need to be addressed and expectations should not create a burden with respect to their workload or resources. Click here to learn about the recycling concerns of our custodians and how we solved them.
  6. Recycling progress and updates will need to be shared with students and shool staff on a regular basis. Click here to learn how we continue to communicate our recycling efforts and progres with our school's students and staff.