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At the start of school year at my new school, I got onto the Department of Sanitation web site to find out what my new school's recycling collection schedule is. I'd been told this is where school recycling coordinators should go to find out when their school's recycling is collected. It's supposed to be as easy as typing in your address.

In the past, I never had an easy time finding out what my school recycling collection schedule was, but I kept trying because DOS and DOE people assured me it's simple, with a tone suggesting I must be doing something wrong.

Last year I ended up calling 311 to file a complaint that I couldn't verify my recycling collection schedule and that it was actually being collected when it was supposed to be. 311 said I couldn't get the number for my garage and I couldn't file a complaint unless I had put recycling on the curb on the proper collection day (that I wasn't sure of) and it hadn't been picked up. (But what if it had been picked up by a garbage truck because they put it out on the wrong day?) I explained that I'd made special arrangements with my garage for mechanized (dumpster) paper recycling and that's not reflected in the online schedule at all, but it didn't make a difference--they wouldn't help me.

So, here I was again. I was at another school and I had to set about trying to tackle an issue I felt I never really solved during the past four years as my previous school. 

This time around it went a little more smoothly. I'm hoping this is a result of the hearing. This is what happened:

I went to the DOS site and typed my school's address and this is what I got:

The collection schedule for 
300 ADELPHI STREET (Brooklyn) is: 

311: We don't have information for school recycling.
Me: Well, you are supposed to.
311: Your recycling collection is only one day a week, Fridays.
Me: Is that for all recycling?
311: Yes.
Me: That doesn't sound right.
311: Hold on one second. (I wait much longer.) We just don't know. They may go by the schedule I just gave you or they may be a different one. My supervisor suggests you call the Department of Sanitation Headquarters at 646-885-3769. 
Me: What are their hours?
311: It doesn't give me that information, but I'm guessing 9-5.

So I called the Department of Sanitation Headquarters (I think their hours are 6-2 PM) and they told me the name of my school garage and gave me contact information for the Supervisor: District 2 in Brooklyn: District Super of the Garage: Thomas Walsh, 718-768-4105 or 4128.

When I spoke with him (you have to catch them early in the day), I requested a paper recycling dumpster, which he said he would look into and get back to me the following week (I still haven't heard from him and now he won't return my phone calls). But the good thing was that he increased our paper collection to four times per week and glass, metal and plastics to two times per week. I immediately made a poster for the custodians.

I have since been able to get the Supervisor's Mr. Walsh's email, so I'm cc'ing the DOE on emails (and others) so I have an electronic trail.

I'm still frustrated that we can't get a paper dumpster. We have twice the student population of my previous school and they have six dumpsters.

I would like to hear everyone else's experience: coquille@educatingtomorrow.org.

K-12 educators from schools in Mott Haven or East Harlem who teach energy-related topics can enter the Con Edison Teacher Challenge by submitting a lesson plan incorporating the teaching of energy within their subject areas. Winners and their schools will receive cash prizes. Applications are available at www.TeacherChallenge.org. The deadline is December 1. For more information, contact Dr. Ray Ann Havasy or JoAnn Williams at www.cstl.org or (516) 764-0045.

You can bring the zoo to your school with a visit from Wildlife Theater from the Central Park Zoo. This program will highlight actions students can utilize to make a positive impact on wildlife conservation. These interactive 30-45 minute programs that can take place in auditoriums or classrooms are designed for students in grades pre-K-5. Wildlife Theater covers environmental science using puppets, theater, and music for a fun and unique educational experience. All Title I Schools receive a 10% discount on the program. For additional information, call (212) 439-6540, e-mail asaltz@wcs.org, or visit www.wcs.org/wildlifetheater.

NYC Council Member Bill de Blasio (D-Park Slope) joined students and parents on Tuesday, March 26 to launch a pilot program at P.S. 154 to replace the Styrofoam lunch trays with trays made from sugar cane fiber. The new environmentally friendly trays are designed to break down within 45 days. In contrast, Styrofoam trays take around 10,000 years to break down. Some believe the trays excrete toxic chemicals into the children's hot food.

The NYC Department of Education uses 850,000 trays a day which adds up to over 4 million trays a week. Brooklyn Properties and The Juice Box are the official sponsors of the pilot program. The Booklyn Paper covered the story, along with a number of blogs.

An alarming majority of schools aren't even recycling. Paper recycling would generate roughly $235,000 a year. Glass, metal and plastic recycling could generate approximately $513,000 per year for a total of $748,000 in lost revenue. Additionally, transporting waste to landfills is getting increasingly expensive, having risen 300% over the past ten years.

Could recycling pay for the cost of converting to earth-friendly trays?

Councilmember de Blasio has also introduced legislation, Intro 609, which would prohibit the use of Styrofoam by City agencies and food establishments. McDonald's stop using Styrofoam packaging in 1990. The cities of Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon were some of the first to prohibit polystyrene food packaging. Although the trays are commonly known as Styrofoam trays, Styrofoam is a licensed trademark of its manufacturer, the Dow Chemical Company.

It's time for the next NYC School Recycling Action Committee meeting!

Who: Anyone interested in recycling in NYC K-12 schools.

What: Networking, trouble-shooting recycling programs in our schools, creating curriculum and planning events leading up to and during Earth Week, and discussion on how to impact NYC school recycling systems. (If you're interested in facilitating a discussion on these topics or another topic, please let us know!)

Where: Prospect Park YMCA, 357 Ninth Street Brooklyn, NY (btwn 5th and 6th Ave.)

When: January 11th from 6 to 8 p.m. (We couldn't reserve it earlier. Don't fret, we'll have snacks! There are also lots of yummy restaurants and awesome bars around.)

Why: Most NYC K-12 schools are not recycling and there's A LOT we can do about it.  Plus, you can win cool door prizes!

How: Take the M, R to 9th St.-4th Ave. or the F to 7th.

RSVP to coquille@houshour.com or mathjosi@hotmail.com. We look forward to seeing you!

Check out Chris Jordan on Comedy Central and Pop!Casts! He photographs the scale of consumption patterns by photographing small quantities of things and then making digital composites that add up the smaller photographs into actual quantities of the things we consume. Pop!Casts video on Chris Jordan's Running the Numbers project. 

Hi All,

Here are the minutes as promised. I didn't hear back from anyone about changes, so please let me know if you want me to make any, and I will edit this post. You can also make comments, or begin a discussion in the forums section.

NYC School Recycling Action Committee
December 7, 2007 Meeting Notes

People introduced themselves (these are summaries of people who were present at the start of the meeting):

I'm working on trying to plan a math project related to garbage and recycling. I'd love to do something with plastic bags. Any ideas? Here are two amazing videos I'd like to incorporate into my lessons:

Our Our Synthetic Sea is about 10 minutes.

The Story of Stuff is getting a lot of attention. Here's a teaser, but you can watch the whole thing at The Story of Stuff.

I'd love to hear your ideas for the project and lessons..... in fact, I've written my lesson plans and so if you want to take a look email me at mathjosi@yahoo.com

 Coquille and I are planning to attend....

NYCORE OPEN MEETING DEC. 14TH 5-7

Are you an educator-activist? Interested in plugging into NYCoRE but not
sure how?

Join NYCoRE for our next Open Meeting

Get updates, give feedback, and learn how to get involved with working
groups that are organizing around anti-testing, anti-military recruitment
and LGBTQ issues
Learn about and help out with other upcoming NYCoRE events
Connect with fellow educators and allies interested in the social justice
movement
Speak out and have your voice heard
Friday - December 14th
5:00 - 7:00 pm
NYU 239 Greene St btwn W4th and Washington Pl.
Cochran room. 2nd floor
(Bring photo ID)

*Please RSVP: info@nycore. org*