The “Green Team” should include teachers, students and parents. The team will be responsible for organizing and maintaining the recycling program as a whole.

Choose a program coordinator that will be responsible for the overall recycling program in school. The coordinator should have some knowledge of recycling and be interested in the project.

Answer these questions before setting up your recycling program:

• Why is your school interested in recycling?
• Who will take responsibility for the program?
• How will the program operate during school holidays?
• How will your school gain community support and volunteers?

Start by collecting a few materials at first, and slowly grow your program as participation increases.

When deciding on which materials to collect, take in to consideration for facility, storage space, safety issues and transportation.

Setup bins throughout the school to collect recyclable materials. The number and type of bins will vary depending on their placement.

• Administration Office – office paper, envelopes, paper and cardboard
• Classrooms – mixed paper and beverage containers
• Cafeteria – cardboard, steel cans, aluminum cans, plastic and beverage containers
• Library – paper, magazines, books and newspapers
• Vending Machines – plastic and beverage containers

The success of your recycling program depends on good publicity and community involvement. Plan a kick off assembly to inform students of the recycling program. Distribute flyers to parents to get their support.

Recycling helps reduce consumption of natural resources, such as trees used to make paper, fossil fuels used to make plastics and metal extracted through strip mining.

Precious landfill space is conserved when you recycle, because waste is diverted from the landfill.

Contact your local recycling depot to find out which materials are recyclable. If your business is located in Fort St. John, you can also inquire about our commercial on-site shredding service provider Acceleration Shredding (www.accelerationshredding.com) and recycling collection service provider Big Dog Recycling (www.bigdogrecycling.com).

The key to success in any recycling program is the involvement and education of all the staff and students.

•  Setup bins in convenient locations around the school
•  Keep it simple with easy to follow instructions
•  Make sure the bins are well marked to ensure they will receive the intended recyclable material
•  Consider restricting the openings on lids to cut down on contamination by trash or other material
•  Locate the bins close to the trash containers in order to make the choice to recycle easy
•  Ongoing recycling education is vital, otherwise people lose interest and go back to their old habits

• Use both sides of paper when printing material
• Use reusable cutlery and glassware in the school cafeteria
• Request that students decrease the amount of waste brought in lunch bags
• Promote lunch boxes and reusable cloth bags

Much of the office paper generated by your organization may contain private and confidential information. Therefore, it should be shredded before being recycled.

Consider purchasing a shredder for your office or contacting our sister company Acceleration Shredding to setup an on-site paper shredding service at (250) 785-4054 or www.accelerationshredding.com.