1. Egan Goes Green “A New Way Of Thinking” 2009-2010

2. What does it mean to “Go Green?” “Going Green” means to make choices that are more beneficial to the environment. “Go Green” is much bigger than just buying a hybrid or recycling a plastic bottle. It involves looking at the big picture and realizing that human actions will make a difference in protecting Earth’s natural resources for generations to come.

3. Why Go Green? “Going Green” is our school-wide goal here at Egan for the year. It is the right thing to do. “Going Green” will help to build responsible habits now that will continue into the future.

4. How can Egan staff and students “Go Green?” Reduce solid waste through compost programs, recycling, and reduction of use of valuable resources such as paper. Re-think product use. For example, bring a reusable water bottle (SIGG) for use at school rather than choosing plastic.

5. What Can Egan Staff Do? Reduce use of paper. Download more homework assignments onto the Web. Turn of lights and electronic devices whenever possible. Adjust thermostats (warmer in summer, cooler in winter). Provide bins/encourage recycling in the classroom.

6. What can Egan Students Do? Support our green effort. Clean up after yourselves at lunch. Responsibly dispose of materials left over from your lunch (recycling & composting).

7. Why Compost? You may say “This is biodegradable and will break down in the garbage. “ “Why should I compost it?” Composting significantly reduces the amount of solid waste that ends up in landfills. Studies conducted at landfill show that even normally biodegradable materials (onions, newspaper, etc) do not break down when placed in a landfill even after 30 or more years. This is because for decomposition to occur (at an efficient rate) there must be a mix of materials (browns & greens) and there must be sufficient moisture and oxygen. Compost must be rotated for it to correctly break down, not just buried.

8. What can we compost? Composting is a great way to reduce solid waste. Egan already has a compost pile out by the garden. A good rule of thumb is “if it came from the ground, it can be composted.” Examples of things that can be composted from our lunch program:Fruit peels/cores, rice, pasta/noodles, bread, and vegetables, NO MEAT/MEAT PRODUCTS SUCH AS CHEESE! Look for green bins with the lids near the recycle bins and garbage cans.

9. What Can We Recycle At EGAN? Odwalla bottles. Dump out and place in a grey crate. Water Bottles. Water a plant and place in a grey crate. Plastic containers (#s 1-7) cream cheese, salad dressing, applesauce, plastic lids, rolls/edame container, etc. Get as much of the food out as possible before recycling. Look for the symbol (three arrows in a circle with a number in the middle) on the container (usually the bottom) Mixed paper products (copy paper, paper from sandwiches, colored paper, magazines, newspaper, Chef Chu boxes, pizza boxes, Chicken strip boxes. Glass and styrofoam (Yes, those cup of noodles containers can be recycled, so do not throw them in the trash). Cans (tin/aluminum) This also includes aluminum foil from the lunches, aluminum pans, and tin fruit cups. Try to shake excess food off before recycling. Cardboard. Boxes, etc. There is a large cardboard recycler in front of the school by the dumpsters. Plastic bags. Place in plastic bag container. These must be clean and dry. Batteries or electronic items. Bring them to room 26 (Davies). Batteries are full of chemicals that are very harmful to the environment if they end up in the garbage.

10. What about unwanted food/water, etc. If you do not want some/all of your lunch I have a solution for you. Simply leave it unopened and placed on food table (will be labeled). We can take fruit (apples, bananas, oranges), pasta, Odwalla, applesauce, yogurt, crackers, (anything pre- packaged). This goes for unopened bottles of water. It is amazing how many end up in the trash (full bottles). Food can be taken worker center in Mt. View or given to other students that may not have a lunch for the day. Just don’t waste it!!! Think about all of the energy and water that went into producing it.

11. What Can Be Put Together In A Recycle Bin? Look for the marked bin! These go together: Mixed Plastics (#s 1-7), aluminum cans, tin cans, soup cups, styrofoam containers (Cup of Noodles), plastic lids, glass, aluminum (foil also) aerosol cans Look for the marked bins! These go together: mixed paper (copy/computer), colored paper, magazines, newspaper, cardboard, sandwich wrappings (no sandwiches) post-it notes, envelopes, cereal/food boxes, brown grocery bags, junk mail, phone books, old books Look for the crates! Please put plastic bottles into grey crates! Look for the blue bins! Plastic bags (clean and dry) will go into smaller blue bins marked plastic bags only. No other materials should go into these bins. Acceptable plastic bags would include Ziplock type bags from your lunch/lunch program and grocery bags. Look for the small green bins with lids! Compost: small green bins with lids. Place rice, fruit/vegetable waste (cores, peels, etc.), edame, bagels, bread (no mayo, cheese, meat, salad dressing, pepperoni, or hot dogs). Place unwanted food, water, juice, etc. on the collection table. Look for this near the student store. Food must be unopened/uneaten!

13. Egan Green Team The Egan Green Team is a student organization intent on making sure that Egan School is making a positive impact on the environment. This can be just your one- week involvement or you may be actively involved for the whole year. Earn Block “E” points. Do something positive for the school site. Colleges are very interested in the types of “Green” activities applicants have been involved in.

14. What Does the Egan “Green Team” do? Anyone can be a member WITHOUT MUCH TIME COMMITMENT. The “Green Team” monitors waste stations to remind fellow students to dispose of their waste responsibly. Encourage (politely, of course) staff to make responsible environmental decisions (remind them to turn off lights, projectors, reduce paper usage, etc.) Encourage family and friends to become more “green.” (set up better recycling at home, replace inefficient lights, etc.) Support the effort. Become involved on a more permanent basis so to help support environmental activities at Egan.

15. Plastic Recycling How do I know if a plastic product is recyclable? Look at the bottom of the container. You should see a set of three arrows with a number in the middle. The number will determine the type of resin the plastic is made of. We can recycle plastic products numbered 1-7 in Los Altos. Typical Plastics can take hundreds or even thousands (yes, thousands) of years to break down if thrown in the garbage and can’t be composted. There are “plastic alternatives” made of starch that are biodegradable. Biodegradable “plastics” can be naturally broken down into its organic parts. Some of these products (bioplastics) include cups, plates, silverware, packing peanuts, and even foam boards.

16. Something To Consider Of the over 500 billion plastic bags manufactured each year, only 1 % are recycled 80% of Americans have access to plastic recycling programs but only 1 in 4 will take their plastic bottles to recycling bins. Between 1976 and 2006, the amount of bottled water consumed by the average American went from 1.6 gallons to 28.3 gallons. North Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. Every Sunday, more than 500,000 trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled. Every year the U.S. disposes of 24 million tons of leaves, grass clippings, and other “green waste” that could be composted to save space in landfills. Studies have shown that curbside plastic recycling may have a negative effect on conservation. Plastic use may actually be increased because people may feel that plastic is easy to get rid of and not bad for the environment as it can be recycled. The truth is that many plastics get turned into items (parking lot bumpers) that can’t be recycled so there is only a temporary delay from their heading to a landfill. Every year 45,000 tons of plastic waste are dumped into the world’s oceans. Up to 1,000,000 seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed year by plastic cups, six-pack rings, sandwich bags, and styrofoam cups. A survey taken in 2007 revealed that as many as 72% of Americans were not aware of the fact that plastic is an oil-based product. About 10% of U.S. oil consumption goes into making plastic. 40% believe that plastic is biodegradable and will compost.

17. So What Does All This Mean To Me as an Egan Student? My hope is that you will take this information and make it part of your experience here at Egan. Acknowledge that change takes time. New habits can take a while to learn. Hopefully you will realize that it really is easy to make smarter choices when it comes to disposing of/reducing waste. It does not take that long to recycle something or to empty some food into a compost container. You really can make a difference. Remind your friends to dispose of their trash responsibly as you sit at the table discussing what happened over the weekend. Don’t assume someone else will clean up after you. Take what you have learned and apply it to everything that you do during the course of the day. Share with your family. Most people want to do the right thing. They just need someone to show them how.