Tim Norton, Grade 7, Greenwich
Do schools Around Greenwich Recycle
Paper Goods?
Greenwich GCS has a recycling program
called Students to Oppose Pollution (S.T.O.P.).We have boxes in
every classroom from grades 7-12 in which the students and
teachers put their used paper. Every Wednesday the science
teacher and students in grades 7-8 help her pick up the paper
from the classrooms, bring it to the science room, and sort it.
They take the paper and separate it into different piles. Once
the students sort them they put it in a teacher’s car and she
brings it to a recycling center. After participating in S.T.O.P.
our local recycling program at Greenwich Central School (GCS), I
expected most of the recycled paper products to be lined paper
and notebooks; however I found that the recycled paper product
range is wide and varying. S.T.O.P had a big affect in our
school, so we are now looking at other schools to see whether or
not they recycle.
Upon
looking up schools that have a population close to Greenwich in
five counties, Washington, Saratoga, Essex, Hamilton, and
Warren, in the northeast region of New York it was found that
Cambridge, Corinth, Galaway, Mechanicville, Stillwater,
Ticonderoga, Hadley-Luzerne, and Lake George were the only
schools with a similar population. (www.emsc.nysed.gov).
After reviewing a number of school web
sites, including Greenwich, and asking teachers at schools in
our area if they had paper recycling programs in their schools
there was little to no information gathered. A 7th
grade Science teacher at Stillwater said that Stillwater does
not have a recycling program, but they use some recycled brown
paper towels and they have 100% recycled toilet tissue paper. A
surprising comment from his was, “I have no information about a
local recycling plant. At one point, the Stillwater school did
recycle. When it did, the paper was taken to the Port of Albany
where it was shipped to a plant for recycling.” Thankfully the
process of recycling is so simple now that a little effort can
go a long way.
