Michigan students get excited about recycling




By Shawn Wright | WRN reporter


Feb. 13 -- One western Michigan school wants its students to get all zeros, just not on their math tests.

Calvary Schools of Holland, Mich., recently began a pilot program to get children to divert all their waste from landfills. School officials said children can make conscientious decisions about recycling at home and in school.

The goal is to get students, parents and faculty members to think about what they throw out and how to divert that waste.

The program began Jan. 4, but the idea came about a year and a half ago when Calvary Executive Director Kevin Alderink was approached by Matt Biolette, business development coordinator for local refuse and recycling hauler Chef Container LLC.

"I loved it and thought it was great," Alderink said. "Iīve always had a heart for recycling ā so when Matt talked about it and the idea grew to ā īLetīs get the families of the school on board for it.ī Itīs like this is a tremendous win."

The pilot program is part of Chef Container and its Westshore Recycling and Transfer Stationīs sustainable community outreach program. The program, which began in 2011, partners with local businesses, organizations and nonprofit groups to increase recycling while diverting material from landfills.

Calvary Schools has two Holland locations, one that houses K-6 and the other for grades 7-12. A community recycling dumpster sits at each location for anyone to use. Last year, the schools were using a single, six cubic-yard dumpster that was collected and brought directly to the landfill. Replacing that dumpster is a waste-to-energy container, and that is sent to WTE facilities in the area.

In the programīs first week, the students filled a recycling container twice, equaling 12 cubic yards of material, Biolette said, and only placed 10, 55-gallon bags into the WTE container at the elementary school. The recyclable material went to Westshore, Chef Containerīs material recovery facility in Laketown Township.

"Our goal as the operators of a material recovery facility is to help provide that education to the municipal partners," Biolette said. "When I can involve schools or other organizations into that kind of a program, it gives me the opportunity to educate not only the students but the faculty and the other adults that participate within that organization."

Chef Container also put about 100, 35-gallon recycling containers throughout the schools. Students and faculty drop all of their recyclables into yellow bags, which get thrown into the recycling dumpsters. The students also collect recyclables from their homes and put them into the bags.

Some students might be recycling a little too much, Alderink said.

"One of the school board members caught up with me and said she had to say, ‘Stop, donīt do that,ī " Alderink said. "He was going to take the lid off their [unused] water bottles. ā He wanted to take the good water out and get the plastic for recycling."

The students are definitely excited.

"If I can get four students that will recycle more than they did at the beginning of December, itīs a huge success," Biolette said. "If I can get the entire student population, 60%, 70% or 80% of them more engaged in recycling and have them continue that philosophy forward, thatīs phenomenal."

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Shawn Wright at swright@crain.com or 313-446-0346.

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