Green Up Our Schools

Denver Language School Elementary

Green Up Our Schools member since 2012

During the 3 years of the program, each school creates their own "green" plan to recycle more and waste less.


Waste Reduction Projects Each school must complete a minimum of two waste reduction projects per year. Click on each title to view a more detailed description.

Year 1
Commercial Composting Commercial composting is a service provided to the school by an outside company, similar to recycling. Hundreds of pounds of food & paper waste are hauled to a facility that processes it back into soil. The weekly collection system can handle the full volume of organic waste that comes out of the lunchroom, bathrooms, and classrooms. (Learn more.)	2012-2013
Reusable Silverware in the Lunchroom Plan to replace plastic utensils with reusable metal silverware to eliminate the amount of waste created in the lunchroom each day. (Learn more.)	2012-2013
Year 2
Zero Waste Lunch Campaign A Zero Waste Lunch Campaign involves teaching students how to bring a lunch from home without any disposable packaging. Reusable containers take the place of plastic bags. (Learn more.)	2013-2014
Recycled Art Project (Learn more.)	2013-2014
Year 3
Paper Towel Reduction Campaign A paper towel reduction campaign raises awareness on the use of paper towels in school, with the goal of reducing consumption. Students create a slogan and track usage patterns. (Learn more.)	2014-2015
Electronic Communication between Parents, Faculty Teachers will collect parent email addresses and work to use electronic communication in place of paper. (Learn more.)	2014-2015

Waste Assessment Results

Every school in the program performs at least one waste assessment every year. This activity helps to show progress made and areas that still need improvement.

Percentage of Trash categorized as Recyclable
(Lower is better!)*

25%

2012
(Fall)

Year

*The presence of recyclable materials in the trash means students & teachers are not correctly sorting items they throw away. The lower the percentage, the more successful the recycling program.


Back to All Schools

We started with one thing back in 2009: recycling. Then it evolved into so much more. The program is flexible enough to let us expand wherever we wanted to go. Now look at us -- we're composting in the lunchroom and the bathrooms, and our bins are overflowing!