This April through the help of teachers, TerraCycle, and the campus Go Green Committee, Writing Instruments will be collected in the classrooms by students and teachers.  To raise awareness beyond our past recycle center and move our recycling programs closer to the individuals using the products, we are pushing out the Writing Instruments Brigade this month for Earth Day and for continued awareness for years to come with our collection program.  

Bins created for classroom collection:

Our past recycle center had benefits but was more parent centered than student centered.  After seeing the massive increase in recycled items collected in the cafeteria by adding larger bins for mainstay product wrappers and pouches in student lunches, we are pushing the new program of writing instruments to the classroom.  When a marker, pen, mechanical pencil, or highlighter runs out, a student can actively think about whether to recycle the item or throw it in the trash.  

The collection will start with a teacher per each team per grade level.  This means 6 collection buckets will be distributed to classrooms and one larger bucket will be kept in the STEAM lab for disposing of classroom collections.  Once filled, collections will be shipped to Terra Cycle.  Through collection points, upcycled lunch bags and backpacks can be purchased through the redemption of those points to create contests amongst classes.  

Below is the email that was pushed out to the team leads within the Kinder through 6th grade at our school.  With a campus of 399 students and grade levels containing 4 classes, each team will receive one bucket to start.  A second roll-out of collection buckets will take place during the month of May and then August of next year to remind teachers to collect at the end of school and at the beginning of the year.  Informational posters were printed from TerraCycle's website and laminated.

Initial Email for New Program:

Hi Teachers,

Over the next few weeks as you visit the STEAM Lab, Marlene will be providing you with a collection box as shown in the attached photos for your team.  The collection is for Writing Instruments including markers (all kinds), highlighters, mechanical pencils (not wooden), and pens.  Marlene will introduce the new collection program to students.

Through the collection of these instruments, points are earned for the school.  We are currently redeeming points for the following two purposes:  

1. Outfitting the STEAM Lab with supplies

2. Providing clean water for a year for one person in need (so far we have provided 12 people)

Students are doing such an excellent job in the cafeteria with the new recycling bins and with the help and encouragment of cafeteria staff that we have been turning in more recycables than we have in the past years through daily student and staff engagement.

We would like to achieve the same daily awareness and momentum in the classroom with the addition of the Writing Instruments collection program!

To start, there is one collection bin per team.  It can sit in the classroom of your team's choice.  When your students visit the STEAM lab, your collection can be taken and placed in the larger bin located in the STEAM lab.  

If you would like an individual bin for your classroom, please let Marlene or myself know and it will be brought to you!

Thank you all for helping kick off this brigade during Earth "Month"!

Please note, we will be updating AISD's Office of Sustainability through Twitter and FB of our schools collection efforts.  If you have anything to share around this collection program, a picture or student quote, please share!