The District School Board of Collier County Recycling Program

The District School Board of Collier County Recycling Program In November of 2005, the District School Board will begin mandatory recycling of paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, aluminum, and metal cans. The District School Board of Collier County will be one of the largest employers in the county leading the pathway in their recycling efforts. We can only accomplish this with your help.

The Recycling Committee The School Board of Collier County Recycling Committee will provide leadership to the School District in successfully meeting and/or exceeding recycling mandates (from Collier County, Ordinance No ), by providing direction on the implementation, and through the education of the students, faculty, and staff on waste management issues. The Recycling Program in the Collier County School District endeavors to reduce waste on campuses, promote the recycling of materials, maintain and promote a clean, sustainable, and environmentally conscious School District.

Our goal and pledge together By initiating a comprehensive recycling program, we will save natural resources and limited landfill space, reduce waste, save on waste disposal cost, and reinforce existing recycling, environmental and conservation curriculum in our schools.

From Classroom to Outside Container and Dumpster

From Outside Container and Dumpster to a recycling facility site

Paper and Cardboard Bales are just some ways they transport large amounts of items.

Central Collection A green recycling bin should be in each classroom. When your bin is full, the facilities custodial staff will take your container, on a two wheel hand cart, and empty the contents into an outside collection bin for the vendor to pick up.

Classroom Collection It is important that only paper and cardboard be placed into the containers found in the classrooms. You will find other containers located throughout your school that are there for other items such as: plastic, glass, aluminum and metal cans (these materials are sometimes referred to as co- mingled containers).

Where to put plastic, glass, aluminum and metal cans All cafeterias will have containers for these co-mingled items. Just drop your water bottle or can in the container and you’ve done a large part in recycling. There will also be containers in staff areas. You don’t want to mix these items in with the paper products, be sure not to put any in the classroom containers that are there for paper and cardboard.

It’s important to rinse out all the cans before placing in the recycling bins. The larger cans located outside the schools can easily be pulled in on their wheels and then place the smaller cans, plastic, glass and aluminum right inside of them.

Where it all starts- It all starts with the students of Collier County School District. We need your participation in the recycling program to make this a success. It starts by walking to the garbage can, looking at the paper in your hand and placing it in the recycling bin instead of the garbage can. From here we will succeed at becoming one of the largest contributors to recycling instead of the landfill.

The Three R’s The recycling program is an educational tool and works well with the three R’S and for our environment: Responsibility Responsibility Respect Respect Resourcefulness Resourcefulness

Can we put colored paper in the bin? Yes- All paper is allowed in your recycling container in your classroom. All cardboard can be placed in there as well, just remember to break it down.

What if we need more containers? That’s no problem. All you have to do is call the recycling coordinator, Mr. Eli Mobley, at the Security and Environmental Department. Their number is

We need everyone's help, the students, the staff, the custodial crews and the food service personnel.

FACTS AND TRIVIA - The average employee generates 2.5 pounds of paper each week or between pounds of recoverable office paper each year. By recycling 1 ton of paper, you save: 17 trees, 6,953 gallons of water, 463 gallons of oil, 587 pounds of air pollution, 2.06 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,077 kilowatt hours of energy. Enough white paper is thrown away each year to build a 12 foot wall from California to New York. Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet. It is estimated that it will take approximately 1 million years for a glass bottle/jar to decompose.

We can make this work, together, with team work. Help each other in the job we have to do by separating items when needed, cleaning containers if needed, or just a reminder to the person who forgets and places something into the garbage can that could have been recycled.

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE It’s the right thing to do !! REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE It’s the right thing to do !!