Is Being Green For You?

By Shetasia Akridge
 

Have you ever wondered how recycling can affect the economy? Have you ever thought about recycling items at your home, job, or school? One year ago, Mr. Nelson and Ms. Shores started The Green Team. The Green Team helps improve the recycling process at DRSS. For example, The Green Team members come to the middle and high school lunch period to help place different foods and waste products in the proper bins. In addition to paper and plastic products, outside of the cafeteria they are also recycling Christmas lights and collecting used batteries for proper disposal.  The Green Team is currently accepting new members from students in grades 6-12. The Green Team meets every Friday at 4:00PM after school to discuss past projects and organize new activities.

As one of their duties, Green Team members help sort waste during lunch time.

The Green Team, in conjunction with Mrs. McDaniel’s Technical Reading and Writing Class, will be applying for a matching grant to purchase an earth tub, which would help make composting at DRSS much more efficient. They also want to create a “Green Team” t-shirt to instill a sense of community pride. Ultimately, they hope to make DRSS a "zero-waste" school and recruit more high schoolers to help recycling efforts at DRSS.

Currently, Green Team has been organizing activities and advertising information across DRSS High school. For example, they’re working on a parody song to inform people around the school about their efforts. Other students are working on independent research projects and forming new ideas about ways to change how we compost our waste. In addition, on Fridays they breakdown the throw away system (known as TerraCycle). Mr. Nelson explained, “We actually redeemed about $420 worth of materials through TerraCycle. The Green Team is currently recruiting more members - especially High school students - to organize more activities for the DRSS.”

Mr. Nelson also discussed how DRSS is a "think-tank type of school," rich with project-based learning initiatives, so having the Green Team as a program at DRSS makes it more instructive. According to Mr. Nelson, “Montgomery County Solid Waste District paid a company to come in and prepare a plan for DRSS of things we need to accomplish to become a zero-waste school. If we accomplish our goal of becoming zero waste, then we would become the first school in Montgomery County to do so.” In addition, at DRSS the school utilizes the program "Paper Cut" for student and staff printing, which saves more paper and money by only releasing print jobs once the user is at the printer. This program helps the students at DRSS use less paper, which decreases costs and helps save trees. On the horizon, the Green Team is planning an energy audit to try to figure out how to reduce electricity bills at DRSS. 

The Green Team meets on Fridays at 3:30PM. If you'd like to join the team, please contact Brittany Shores at brittany.shores@wright.edu.

Keep up the great work Green Team members!