Green Up Our Schools

Denver Green School Elementary

Green Up Our Schools member since 2010

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

View photos of all the green activities in action.


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
Student Green Team Formed a group of eco-minded students to take on the responsibility of the recycling program and carry out green activities. (Learn more.)	2010-2011
Commercial Composting Began a contract for commercial composting services for food & paper waste. Each week, hundreds of pounds of lunchroom waste are hauled from the school to a facility that processes it all back into soil. (Learn more.)	2010-2011
Reusable Dishes for Staff Lounge Placed a set of reusable bowls, plates, cups, and silverware in the staff lounge to reduce the waste created by disposables. (Learn more.)	2010-2011
Reusable Silverware in the Lunchroom Replaced plastic utensils with reusable metal silverware to eliminate the amount of waste created in the lunchroom each day. (Learn more.)	2010-2011
Year 2
Double-Sided Copying Campaign A Double-Sided Copying Campaign emphasizes the importance of conserving paper by printing on both sides of the page whenever possible. Students create an education campaign and track actual paper usage. (Learn more.)	2011-2012
Year 3
Electronic Communication between Parents, Faculty Teachers will collect parent email addresses and work to use electronic communication in place of paper. (Learn more.)	2012-2013
Zero Waste Classroom Party Kits A Zero Waste Classroom Party Kit is a set of reusable dishes designed to eliminate the need for disposable plates, cups, and utensils during class festivities. (Learn more.)	2012-2013
Recycled Purchasing Policy A Recycled Purchasing Policy emphasizes the importance of buying goods with post-consumer recycled content to close the recycling loop by creating a demand for the kind of products that the school's recycling program creates. (Learn more.)	2012-2013
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.)	2012-2013

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!)*

50%

37%

43%

26%

50%

2010
(Fall)

2011
(Spring)

2011
(Fall)

2012
(Spring)

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.


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Our school has really benefited from this program. You can really see how the students' habits have changed compared to the start.