Two boys plan and carry out recycling program at school

FOR MANY children, recess is a chance to go outside and enjoy nature. For Steven Morton and Sean Meehan, recess is a chance to save Earth. Well, at least a small part of it.

Every Friday, these West Friendship Elementary fourth-graders spend their recess time going around the school emptying recycling bins into large cans. Steven and Sean began planning their school's recycling program last fall as an enrichment project with the school's Gifted and Talented Program resource teacher, Elsa Fawcett.

"They've really taken the initiative themselves, with a little help from adults," Fawcett said.

It started in October, when the boys realized the school was not recycling paper despite the presence of small bins in some areas. "I was going to put a piece of paper in the recycling bin, and our teacher said it wouldn't do any good because it would just get thrown out with the trash," Steven explained.

The boys, who are longtime friends and have been in the same classes since kindergarten, decided to work together to launch a program. They approached Fawcett and asked for help. She suggested that they arrange meetings with the school principal and the custodian, which they did.

But they weren't finished.

"We wrote letters to the recycling center and the school board," Sean said. They were put in touch with Larry Dorsey, the custodial services manager who heads the public school system's recycling efforts.

"He told us it was not mandatory to recycle, but he sent us some small bins and some large ones," Steven said.

Dorsey said some schools use cardboard boxes for recycling, but they disappear at the end of the year. The plastic recycling bins can be used year after year. "We got them the smaller ones that they could put in the individual classrooms and several larger ones to place in the hallways," he said. The boys had to determine how many were needed.

Their next step was to promote the program. Sean and Steven made posters on a computer and hung them around the school. They placed a small bin in each classroom and the larger cans in the hallways.

After several months of planning, Steven and Sean launched their program last month.

Each Friday, they go from room to room picking up the small bins, carrying them down the hallways and emptying them into the nearest cans. Every other week, they pick up recyclables in the school's two portable classrooms.

It doesn't bother the boys that they're giving up recess. They seem to be more concerned about whether they're distracting the children in the classrooms they visit.

After coming out of the kindergarten room recently, Sean remarked, "This one's really hard because they're all taking naps." He tries to be extra quiet.

The boys get excited when they find a bin that's full. "We were thinking of getting treats for the class that puts the most recyclables in the recycling bin and the least trash in the trash cans," Steven said.

On the way to the music room, Sean said, "In the first week, Mr. [Richard] Umla, the music teacher, was the best recycler." As he left the room with a full can, he added: "He's still the best."

The school's custodian, Chuck Alford, empties the large cans into containers outside. The same company that picks up the trash also removes the recycling each week.

The boys hope to get more students involved and ensure the program continues after they move to middle school.

Dorsey is happy to help schools set up their own programs. He can provide promotional posters and will visit the school to educate students and staff on how to make the program successful. "Every so often, certain schools want to get involved in recycling," he said. "If we can get the teachers, students and custodians together so they can discuss the program, it makes it a lot easier."

Fawcett is pleased that Sean and Steven are doing their part for the environment, but she is even more pleased at what they are learning from carrying out the project. She takes no credit for their success. "They've been doing it pretty much on their own," she said.