The CLUB

The NRRA School Recycling Club
Northeast Resource Recovery Association

School News You Can Use – September, 2016

 

 

back to school pic

garden.socrative.com

 

Welcome Back Students, Teachers and Staff!

 

 INSIDE THIS ISSUE

 

  • CLUB News -Special Recognition Award in Louisiana
  • CLUB Welcomes 3 New Members
  • Grant & SWIP News – Free Teacher Trainings
  • In The News – Minion School Rules
  • Contests, Scholarships & Fundraisers – Recycle-Bowl 2016
  • EPA & NHDES News – Watershed Sleuth
  • Activity – Locker Organization

 

Click here to view PDF

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CLUB NEWS

 

Special Recognition Awarded to 7th graders in Belle Chasse, Louisiana

 

The 7th graders of Our Lady of Perpetual Help fought to get their recycling program reinstated.  Here was the headline that started it all in January of 2016:

 

Parish-wide recycling collection set to end

Tue, 2016/01/19 – 10:07am News Staff

The Plaquemines Parish Solid Waste Department will discontinue the collection of recyclable materials beginning March 1, 2016. Plaquemines Parish is facing a budget crunch, and the price of recyclable trash pick-up has increased drastically. According to the solid waste department, Plaquemines recycled trash was handled by Republic, a subsidiary of BFI. Republic’s processing fee was $20 per ton and at the end of 2015 Plaquemines Parish was notified that the fee would be increased to $40 per ton.

 

Here was the headline that followed in February of 2016:

 

OLPH students win campaign to keep recycling in

Plaq. Parish

Tue, 2016/02/02 – 10:32am News Staff

By Kari Dequine Harden

It was a well-organized campaign by the 7th grade religion class at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH), and a positive lesson in the democratic process showing that decisions made by government are not always final. At the Jan. 28 Plaquemines Parish Council meeting, it was announced by Plaquemines Parish President Amos Cormier that the administration would keep the parish’s recycling program, reversing course from the announcement made on Jan. 8 that recycling would end on March 1 due to budget constraints.

 

our-lady-pic

 

 

 

Here is the Press Release issued by NRRA in June:

 

Our Lady of Perpetual Help School (Belle Chasse, Louisiana) Receives Special Recognition Award

EPSOM, NH 6/6/16 – The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), New Hampshire the Beautiful and NRRA School CLUB announced at 7th Annual School Recycling Conference on May 17, 2016 in Nashua, NH that Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, located in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, was this year’s School CLUB Special Recognition Award recipient.

The award was given as a result of the student’s determination to keep their recycling program.

A decision had been made by the Civil Parish Council to eliminate the Parish-wide recycling program due to the increased cost of recycling pick-ups. The seventh grade students brought their grievance to the Plaquemines Parish Council.  The Board was impressed by the community response and reinstated the recycling program.

“I was so happy to hear the outcome of this story,” said Michael Durfor, NRRA Executive Director. “We are grateful for those students, teachers and communities that understand the importance of recycling–no matter what the cost may be.”

 

The award was presented to the school on August 30 by NRRA’s Board President, Duncan Watson (center back).

 

our-lady-news-pic

The Our Lady of Perpetual Help School “eco warriors,” (religion teacher Heather Giordano’s 7th grade class), receive a Special Recognition Award from the New Hampshire-based Northeast Resource Recovery Association for their successful campaign in January to reinstate the parish-wide recycling program. Courtesy photo: Plaquemines Gazette

 

 

For the complete story, go to The Plaquemines Gazette

 

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CLUB WELCOME

 

Welcome New CLUB Members!

 

 

Main Street School, Exeter, NH

 

 Main Street School Pic

 

Located in Seacoast, NH, Exeter, NH is a vibrant community. Exeter was founded in the early 1600s and has played an important part in the history of New Hampshire.

Students in grades Kindergarten – Grade 2 are housed at the Main Street School.

School Population:  about 500

 

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Hollis Brookline Middle School, Hollis, NH

 Hollis School pic

Located in southern NH on the border with Massachusetts, the Hollis Brookline Middle School serves both Hollis and Brookline.  Hollis was founded in 1746 and Brookline was founded in 1769.

HBMS serves students in 7th and 8th grade.

School Population:  about 400 Hollis Knights pic

 

 

 

 

 

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Hollis Brookline High School, Hollis, NH

 

HBHS pic 3Hollis Brookline High School is a National Blue Ribbon High School (2011) and is cited as #1 in New Hampshire and #514 in the United States by U.S. News & World Report (2012).  It is ranked as #399 in the United States by Newsweek Magazine (2012). (SAU41.org)

HBHS serves students in grades 9-12.

School Population:  about 868

 

HBHS pic 1HBHS pic 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

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wanted-educators

 

 

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GRANT & SWIP NEWS

 

As part of our USDA Grant, we have three free Teacher Trainings coming up:

(You can still register for the one tomorrow!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Free Webinar for Recycling Educators!

 

 

Webinar pic

frpa.org

Through generous USDA funding, NRRA is offering a FREE WEBINAR that highlights our School CLUB Classroom Workshops and Technical Assistance Trainings designed for use in standard classroom settings and can be tailored to fit the developmental needs of any class, grades K-12.

Participants investigate household toxins, connect waste and global climate change, learn how to make composting work, and explore the wide world of solid waste. The Technical Assistance Trainings focus on the school districts’ big picture problems and solutions pertaining to indoor air quality, waste management budgets, and a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative report on individual school’s recycling and waste reduction efforts.

The USDA funding is helping NRRA implement a Train-the-Teacher model that assists economically challenged schools avail themselves of the quality programming NRRA’s School CLUB offers. Once trained, participants will receive the tools to do their own programming and to integrate students and local facility staff into the overall program. In addition, all educators who take part in NRRA’s Train the Teachers webinar program, will receive the corresponding classroom workshop power points and the revised Teaching Toxics and Teacher’s Resource Guide curricula that has been aligned with the Common Core Standards. Ninety-six (96) positive, fun and hands-on lesson plans/classroom activities about environmental protection, pollution prevention, and stewardship!

By addressing the topic of what is being thrown away with household trash, students in the classroom learn about an integral component of increasing the public’s awareness of hazardous, recyclable, and compostable products. The success in teaching these issues lies in presenting the information in a way that empowers students instead of overwhelms them. The lesson plans in NRRA’s curricula and the classroom workshops do this.

If you are interested in viewing the webinars and/or hosting a teacher training for your school or district, we would be delighted to send you the webinar link. Please contact Cindy Sterling at [email protected] or NRRA’s School CLUB at [email protected].

NRRA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination write, USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

 

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BCSWA School & Business Outreach

 

Bennington County Map

epodunk.com

UPDATE:  Work continued throughout the summer to provide outreach to events and businesses throughout Bennington County. A presentation was done for local businesses on July 20 in Arlington.  Special thanks to the Arlington Inn for hosting the event and to GNAT-TV for filming the event.

 

The Bennington County Solid Waste Alliance serves the communities of:  Arlington, Bennington, Dorset, Glastenbury, Manchester, Pownal, Rupert, Sandgate, Searsburg, Shaftsbury, Stamford, Sunderland and Woodford, VT.

BCSWA contracted NRRA and the School CLUB to provide outreach and training to schools and businesses in the Alliance area regarding Vermont’s Universal Recycling Act 148.

 

The Alliance website is up and running and full of useful links. Here is the link to the Alliance Webpage. They also have their own School Newsletter!

 

 

Scheduling Now

Free Workshops Available for Alliance Schools

workshop clipart

clipartpanda.com

 

Outreach to the Alliance schools continues next Fall. BCSWA schools interested in receiving FREE programming for the next school year should contact: [email protected] to get on the calendar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NRRA CLUB applergclipped

Would you like to host a TOLD, Garbage Guerrillas or another Workshop at your school? Let the CLUB Help!

 

 

 

  • Improves academic performance, especially in science and math
  • Can lead to financial savings for schools
  • Decreases the school’s carbon footprint through practical solutions that reduce energy and water consumption
  • Reduces school waste and conserves natural resources
  • Encourages student environmental awareness and stewardship
  • Increases parental involvement
  • Helps students and teachers develop stronger relationships with their communities
Milford Told-EC-Set up pic

School CLUB set up for TOLD event

Previous EPA EE-funded research at over 200 New England schools completed by the NRRA School Recycling CLUB (the CLUB) found that the single most challenging area for school recycling programs was in providing curriculum integrations that brought recycling and sustainability into classrooms to be used as the subject matter for meeting state and local curriculum standards.  The intention of the CLUB programs is to address just that issue in schools across all six New England states. Our goal is to use the CLUB’s workshops and technical assistance programs, all experiential and hands on, as a tool for educating K-12 students about consumption, proper diversion of waste, the resulting impacts on climate change and what they can do to change it.  Through these offerings, we are also afforded the opportunity to link these priorities to curriculum standards.  In addition, these workshops will model, for educators or community leaders, exemplary ways of teaching in creative, effective, and efficient methods about human health threats from environmental pollution as well as how to minimize human exposure to preserve good health. Click here to learn more or contact us at [email protected] or call 1.603.736.4401 ext. 19

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 IN THE NEWS

 

We found this on Pinterest:

 

Minions School Rules

 

minions pic

 

Click this link for the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddvTFgzkS5M

(Be sure to turn on your volume)

 

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From our friends at the  Container Recycling Institute (CRI)

 

Pokémon Go players tackle a litter problem in Ontario town

 

Pokemon pic

Pokémon Go players in an Ontario town organized a garbage pick-up event. (Courtesy of Pat Jilesen Photography)

 

By Ayesha Barmania, Cross Country Checkup

 

Just before the Cross Country Checkup conversation on digital friendship started on Sunday, Pokémon Go players in Peterborough, Ont., were hard at work and play. They were picking up litter around the city while playing the popular new app.

Pokemon map

The litter pick-up route. (Facebook)

Jessica Correa was one of the organizers of the garbage pickup, and she said that the event vastly exceeded her expectations. “The event exploded on social media locally,” she said.

“[The game] was a great incentive; we had tons of people come out.”

The game itself involves a lot of walking; players amble around the real world searching for fictional animals, called Pokémon, to catch, or to collect items at Pokéstops, and to hatch eggs, all using augmented reality software. Correa said all this walking was making players see how much garbage there was lying around. “[Players] have been getting outside more and noticing these eyesores.”

In other cities, there have been complaints of garbage accumulating due to Pokémon players, and the suggestion that these players are contributing extra garbage.

Regardless of the cause, a couple of Peterborough players decided to organize a garbage cleanup, and brought Correa and her company on board to help organize. They idea was that “people could walk, catch Pokémon, and pick up litter,” said Correa.

In just a week, they arranged for several local business sponsors, set up garbage deposit stations along a designated route, and had dozens of people turn out on the day of.

Listen to guest host Susan McReynolds speak with Jessica Correa on Cross Country Checkup:

Cross Country Checkup
July 24, 2016 – Jessica Correa

 

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To be fair, here is another side of Pokemon Go:

 

From our friends at WasteAdvantage Magazine

 

pokemon-pic

 

 

Pokemon GO Players are Becoming a Nightmare for British Waste Disposal Company

August 3, 2016

What would you do in order to be the best like no one ever was in Pokemon GO? Well apparently, some people are already trespassing, getting into car accidents, falling off of cliffs, neglecting their children, and I’m pretty sure there must be at least a couple of dead trainers out there somewhere, all in the name of catching them all. So where does it end? One would imagine that your local landfill might be one of the few places where trainers draw the line because not only are such places pretty nasty, but they’re also quite dangerous. According to a British waste disposal company, however, Pokemon GO players are not dissuaded by mountains of garbage, as a growing number of reports are claiming that people from all over the UK are taking landfills and waste disposal sites by storm in an attempt to complete their Pokedexes.

The company in question goes by the name BusinessWaste and has recently warned players about the dangers of venturing too far into areas filled with hazardous waste. A spokesperson for the company says that there have been multiple instances when the company had to ask Pokemon hunters to leave its premises while other trespassers had to be escorted to safety after being found playing Pokemon GO at active landfills and recycling centers. Many of the trainers were full-grown adults literally playing next to garbage and in one case the company found and escorted to safety an entire family who was hunting Pokemon near one of its landfills. Perhaps the most amusing incident, however, saw “a teenager climbing on industrial bins containing metallic waste behind a factory because (and we quote) “There’s a Jigglypuff here, give me two minutes.”

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Business Waste, “Our clients all over the country are reporting similar problems.”

“We’ve been told of trespassers in production areas, but what concerns us most is reports of people round bins which contain hazardous waste,” says spokesperson Mark Hall. “Real life isn’t like a game, you don’t get to go back to the beginning if you’re killed. Steer clear of rubbish tips and recycling plants, it’s not worth it.”

To read the full story, visit http://geeksnack.com/pokemon-go-players-are-becoming-a-nightmare-for-british-waste-disposal-company/.

 

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From our friends at Plastics News

Plastics at the Olympics

August 5, 2016

 

Gold, silver, bronze, plastics

 

By Anna Flávia Rochas

 

rio-1

Dopper/Eliseu Fiuza The Olympic ring sculpture on Rio’s Copacabana Beach are made of 143 pounds of recycled plastic bottles.

Whether the medal being awarded at the Rio 2016 Olympics Games in Brazil this month is gold, silver or bronze, the ribbon those medals are hung from will come from plastics, with half the content coming from recycled bottles.

Innovative plastics use is being highlighted in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, with applications ranging from sports equipment to artificial grass and event venues, along with ribbons for medals and sculptures made from recycled bottles.

Plastics bottles also are part of efforts to highlight pollution, including plastic waste, in Guanabara Bay, where Olympic sailing competitions will take place. An effort to start cleaning the bay was launched after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when the Dutch government created the Clean Urban Delta Initiative.

rio-2

Dopper/Eliseu Fiuza The Plastic Madonna at Rio’s Botafogo Beach is made with waste plastics.

One of the projects was the Plastic Madonna sculpture, made from 5,000 plastic bottles collected in Rio de Janeiro. It was coordinated by Dutch social enterprise Dopper with the support of local organizations and government, and built by Brazilian artist Eric Fuly, based on the design by Dutch artist Peter Smith.

Plastic Madonna was unveiled in Rio’s Botafogo Beach and now is in one of the city’s public parks, with the intent to bring awareness to plastic pollution.

“The Plastic Madonna is a reference to the fact that we are literally feeding our future generation with plastic,” Dopper ambassador in Brazil Ellen Sluis told Plastics News. “Plastic is in the oceans, fish misunderstand plastic for seaweed and eat it. We eat the fish and the plastic enters our food chain.”

About 143 pounds of recycled plastic bottles were also used to build the Olympic Rings sculpture on Copacabana Beach.

Sluis said Dopper will also be responsible for building the Paralympic Games symbol using recycled plastic bottles, replacing the Olympic Rings sculpture.

Cutting the carbon footprint

Dow Chemical Co.’s micro-foaming technology for packaging is part of an initiative to cut 4.4 billion pounds of carbon dioxide impact at the Summer Games.

“We used Dow’s low carbon technologies to deliver this mitigation,” said Guilherme Dias, Dow’s commercial leader for the Olympic Games, “It’s similar to a carbon credit, but it is actually a climate benefit that we are delivering to the Organizing Committee to mitigate the carbon consumed by the games.”

The micro-foaming solution is made with new production methods that lead to higher productivity and improvement in the extrusion process of films, using 15 to 25 percent less raw material.

“The technology is also reducing the cost of packaging production, one of the main concerns for most of the people working in the packaging chain,” said Charly Eid, marketing manager for Dow’s packaging business in Latin America.

Adoption of polyurethane-based insulation panels, to reduce energy consumption in construction, is another plastic-related action that will help Dow deliver carbon footprint mitigation.

Two other initiatives in the agricultural market, and biomass use to generate energy in some of Dow’s units in Brazil, also are helping to balance the greenhouse gas emissions from the Games.

Plastics for venues, performance

rio-3

Braskem Braskem sponsors Alan Fonteles, a Brazilian parathlete competing in the Paralympics.

Rio’s field hockey arena Deodoro Olympic Park was revamped with synthetic turf made with linear low density polyethylene and polyurethane technologies, supplied by Dow and German athletic surface producer Polytan STI.

Maracanã, one of the largest soccer stadiums in the world and the host of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, had Dow plastics applied to drainage and irrigation pipes below its natural grass.

The stadium was upgraded for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when recycled PET bottles were used to make 6,773 seats in the 78,838 seat stadium.

Another five venues of the Olympic Games holding shooting, fencing, basketball, hockey, handball and swimming competitions had seats, armrests, bolts and other items made from nylon supplied by Italian company Radici Group.

Plastic, which have been used in artificial limbs since 1937, are again playing a prominent role in the Paralympic Games.

Currently, most of the Paralympic athletes use flex-foot cheetah prosthetics made from plastics and carbon fiber. They were considered more efficient than human feet during the Beijing 2008 Paralympic games.

Braskem SA is sponsoring the Brazilian Parathletics team and double-amputee runner Alan Fonteles, who is participating in the Rio Paralympics.

“This sponsorship is the result of Braskem’s belief that chemical and plastic make people’s lives better,” said Marcelo Lyra, Braskem’s vice president for institutional relations and development, in a statement. “Prosthesis, which are made from a material that incorporates plastic, are an example of this, providing a leap in quality of life and performance for parathletes.”

 

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First Lego League Update from our friends at Waste360

 

Students Share Creative Waste Management Ideas for Contest

 

Jun 26, 2016 Waste360 Staff

 

Lego 1

 

Photography by Rich Riggins/Feature Photo Service for FIRST

The FIRST Lego League, a nonprofit organization that inspires young people’s participation and interest in both science and technology, annually challenges students across the globe to come up with innovative ideas to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges for its FIRST Lego Global Innovation Award event.

This year, 26,000 teams of students from 80 countries participated in the Trash Trek-themed challenge, where they had to identify a problem in the waste and recycling industry, find out what’s currently being done to help resolve the issue and come up with a new solution for their selected problem.

During the sixth annual FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award held at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Va., 20 semi-finalist student teams from 21 countries shared their ideas with a panel of expert judges, who reviewed the teams’ submissions and selected one winning team and two runner-up teams. The winning team was awarded with a $20,000 cash prize, and the two runner-up teams each received a $5,000 cash prize.

This year’s winners:

 

Lego 2Winner  – The Incredibots of Gahanna, Ohio

The Incredibots developed Styro-Filter, a device which transforms Styrofoam waste into activated carbon, which can then be utilized for purifying water. This patent-pending product could help divert approximately two billion pounds of non-recyclable Styrofoam from U.S. landfills each year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Runner-up  – Cyber Tigers of Austin(Rich Riggins/Feature Photo Service for FIRST)

Cyber Tigers created Water Soluble 6-Pack Rings, which dissolve when they are either submerged in water or exposed to an ample amount of rain. These 6-pack rings could be used by beverage companies to help minimize the amount of waste that ends up in oceans and harms wildlife.

 

 

 

(Rich Riggins/Feature Photo Service for FIRST)Runner-up – Robostallions of Stuart, Fla.

In an effort to reduce the buildup of chip bags in landfills, Robostallions designed Chipsulation, which is insulation made from shredded chip bags.

 

 

 

 

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cliparts.co

cliparts.co

 

 

Interested in green cleaning?  If you would like to host a workshop in your school, please consider The CLUB’s Healthy Home, Clean Waters Workshop or our Technical Assistance Training for facilities staff on Green Cleaning & Indoor Air Quality Evaluation & Review. 

 

 

 

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 Contests, Scholarships & Fundraisers

 

Recycle Bowl Logo

 

2016 Recycle-Bowl Competition Registration is now open!

REGISTER!

 

 

Why Recycle-Bowl?

Recycling is the easiest and most effective thing that ANYONE can do to protect natural resources, conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. Recycling also creates jobs and stimulates our economy. And, friendly competition is a proven way to motivate young people toward adopting sustainable behaviors.

Many schools have been slow to embrace recycling. Through Recycle-Bowl, we hope to galvanize recycling in elementary, middle and high schools across America.

Our Mission

Invigorate student participation through a national K-12 recycling competition.

Objectives

  • Establish new recycling programs within schools
  • Increase recycling rates in schools that currently recycle
  • Provide teacher/student educational opportunities about recycling and waste reduction

For detailed instructions on how to register, click here.  Please be sure to register by October 14th.  The competition begins October 17th and ends on November 15th!

 

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Compost Council Logo

 

 

2016-2017 Poster Contest

The Composting Council will once again host a Poster Contest for International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW).  The deadline is November 14, 2016.

For more information, check out the Poster Contest Rules.

 

 

Here is a gallery of the last 5 annual winners; just click on any picture.

 

 

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garbage-to-garden-pic

theeaglesnestepa. wordpress.com

 

 

Interested in composting?  If you would like to host a workshop in your school, please consider The CLUB’s Back to the Earth WorkshopLearn more here.

 

 

 

 

 

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 Nashua Recycling Center 2017Calendar Contest

 

Once again, students in Nashua, NH will have the opportunity to add their artwork to the annual Recycling Center Calendar.  We are looking for a theme for 2017.  Here are a couple of the past themes to get you thinking:

 

2014 – Think Outside the Trash … RECYCLEnashua-recycling-center

2015 – Be Smart, Use a Cart … RECYCLE

2016 – Be Cool, Recycle at School

2017 – ????

 

If you have a great idea, please send it to The CLUB at:  [email protected]

Contest theme and rules to follow in future newsletters.

 

 

 

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From our friends at EPA

New application period for PEYA program

 

 

PEYA logoApplications are now being accepted for the next round of the President’s Environmental Youth Award (http://go.usa.gov/3u7XB). Applications are due March 1, 2017.

The PEYA program promotes awareness of our nation’s natural resources and encourages positive community involvement, through recognizing outstanding environmental projects by K-12 youth. The award celebrates student leadership in protecting the environment and building a livable, sustainable global community. Recent award winning projects included activities such as:

  • creating a new eco-friendly fertilizer;
  • fighting deforestation;
  • educating communities on the need to protect various animal species;
  • restoring and conserving local habitats;
  • promoting community gardening;
  • promoting recycling and other waste reduction methods in schools and communities;
  • banning polystyrene (Styrofoam);
  • researching the impact of energy consumption methods;
  • analyzing the impact of solar panel installation;
  • inventing a new water pollution mitigation method;
  • educating communities on water conservation; and
  • analyzing storm water flow and flood risk.

 

 

 $$$$$$$$$$ Other School Grant Opportunities  $$$$$$$$$$

 

(Collected from NWF Eco-Schools Newsletter – August, 2015)
http://www.nwf.org/Eco-Schools-USA/Newsletter.aspx?s_email_id=20150819_ECO_ENG_Educators|#schoolyardhabitats

DonorsChoose.org – Can list on site up to 4 months
http://www.donorschoose.org/about
Helps classrooms and students in need

DoSomething.org offers many ways to earn scholarship money.

 

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EPA & NHDES NEWS

 

From our friends at the EPA


Watershed Sleuth Educational Activities for Citizen Scientists

 

Hey, citizen scientists!  Want to be like Sherlock Holmes?  Here’s your chance. watersleuth pic It’s elementary!  Become a Watershed Sleuth — or better yet, a Watershed Guardian or a Watershed Hero — by learning how to help solve water quality problems. Try your hand at building a model aquifer, or take an interactive quiz to find out where water wasters are. These are just some of the online activities offered by EPA and the National Environmental Education Foundation. Children, families, K-12 school groups and others can earn a different digital badge for each lesson they complete, and show off their watershed knowledge!

 

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From our friends at EPA-Environmental Education

 

Every Kid in a Park

Make a Plan to Visit a Park

Through the Every Kid in a Park program, fourth graders across the United Every Kid in a ParkStates have free access to all federal lands and oceans. Take the opportunity to plan a fourth grade class trip for next year or a family vacation for the summer. Stay close to home, or travel somewhere new.

Students who just finished 4th grade can still use their passes through August 31, 2016. Rising 4th graders can download their passes starting September 1, 2016.

Find information for parents and guardians (https://everykidinapark.gov/parents/) and resources for educators  (https://www.everykidinapark.gov/get-your-pass/educator). There are hundreds of federal lands across the United States, so if you need help finding a good one, check out Find Your Park (http://findyourpark.com/find) and start exploring!

 

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From our Friends at NH DES

 

NHDES Summer Newsletter

NH DES logo

Here’s the link to the July/August Newsletter.

We especially liked the Safety Month Art Contest winners at the end!

 

 

 

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2014WasteWise logo_color_voluntaryEPA’s WasteWise encourages organizations and businesses to achieve sustainability in their practices and reduce select industrial wastes.  WasteWise is part of EPA’s sustainable materials management efforts, which promote the use and reuse of materials more productively over their entire lifecycles.

 

To learn more, go to WasteWise Fact Sheet.

 

 


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EPA FRC Rethink logo

 

 

 

 

 

As part of EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, organizations pledge to improve their sustainable food management practices and report their results. The FRC is part of EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Program (SMM). SMM seeks to reduce the environmental impact of materials through their entire life cycle. This includes how they are extracted, manufactured, distributed, used, reused, recycled, and disposed.

To learn more, go to:  EPA FRC

 

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ACTIVITY

 

We found these awesome ideas for organizing lockers on Pinterest! Just click on the image for a full-size view.

 

 

 

 

If you want to give it a try . . .

 

From our friends at AllFreeKidsCrafts.com

 

Jean-ious Pocket Organizer

 

Jean locker 1

 

 

By: Lauri Eaton from I Love to Create

2014-07-21 08:10:53

 

Keep tidy in style with the Jean-ious Pocket Organizer. If you’ve outgrown multiple pairs of jeans, use them to make a DIY jewelry organizer, DIY makeup organizer, or DIY supplies organizer. If you just can’t figure out how to organize your locker or craft room, hang up one of these adorable denim devices and you’ll be neat in no time. Make crafts with jeans for a unique project that not only helps you keep clean, but that also looks great.

 

Materials:

  • Aleene’s® Fabric Fusion® Permanent Fabric Adhesive
  • Scissors
  • Buttons for decoration
  • Rick-rack trim
  • Box of large paper clips
  • Ribbon of choice
  • 2 to 4 pairs of used jeans with various sized pockets
  • 12” Wooden ruler

Instructions:

1. Cut around pockets from old jeans and set aside.

2. Use fabric from one denim pants leg to create the body of your organizer. Cut to desired size allowing for a half-inch seam allowance around all edges. Make sure the finished width of organizer matches your wooden ruler length.

3. Fold all raw edges over to the backside and adhere with Fabric Fusion. Use large paper clips to hold seams in place until dry.

4. Use Fabric Fusion to adhere reserved jeans pockets onto organizer body. Lay flat until dry.

5. Cut trims and rick rack to fit width of organizer. Where desired, apply trims and rick rack to organizer with Fabric Fusion. Let dry.

 

 

Jean locker 2

 

 

6. Cut four lengths of ribbon to create loops for hanging. Make sure loops will accommodate wooden ruler. Secure to back of organizer with Fabric Fusion. Let dry.

7. Hang finished organizer from wooden ruler inserted through ribbon loops.

Jean locker 3

 

 

 

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GREEN CALENDARclipart green calendar

 

09/24/16 – Green Apple Day of Service – To register,  visit http://www.usgbc.org/articles/register-2015-green-apple-day-service.

10/05/16 – Walk/Bike to School Day – To register your school event:
http://www.walkbiketoschool.org/

11/02/16 – Y.E.S. Summit –  The Vermont Youth Environmental Summit for grades 7-12. To learn more and register, contact:  [email protected]

11/11/16 – Students for Zero Waste –  3rd Annual “Students for Zero Waste” Conference, Durham, NH, November 11 & 12, 2016.  For more info:  http://www.postlandfill.org/conference/.  Note there is a small registration fee to attend this event.

11/15/16 – America Recycles Day – An initiative of Keep America Beautiful (KAB), America Recycles Day is the only nationally-recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the U.S. For ideas, contact www.americarecyclesday.org.

03/22/17 – World Water Day – To plan your event,  visit www.unwater.org.

04/22/17 – Earth Day – To plan your event, see future newsletters and visit www.earthday.org.

04/28/17 – Arbor Day – To plan your event,  visit www.arborday.org.

05/22/17 – NRRA’s 36th Annual Recycling Conference & Expo

05/23/17 – School CLUB’s 8th Annual School Recycling Conference (the Conference within the Conference); Registration assistance available for NH schools through NH the Beautiful.

06/05/17 – World Environment Day – To plan your event,  visit www.unep.org.

06/08/16 – World Oceans Day – To plan your event,  visit www.worldoceansday.org.

 

 

 

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mailboxWHAT IS YOUR SCHOOL CLUB UP TO? The NRRA School CLUB always loves to hear what its members and other schools are doing to recycle and help the environment so we can share it through our newsletter. There are so many different things being done, and you are our best source of information about what is working in your school. It can be a new program, a long-term project that’s been proven over time, a field trip, etc. Always feel free to contact me or submit something and you may see it in the next School News You Can Use! – Gwen Erley,  [email protected] 1-603-736-4401 Ext. 19