“Did you know that the energy saved by recycling a plastic water bottle could power a light bulb for four minutes?”
A statement that simple has led to a recycling initiative that will soon be turning Berks County green, and could be statewide in school districts across Pennsylvania.
It all started at Alvernia University a few months ago where restroom visitors learn interesting recycling facts in a biweekly production known as “Stall Talk”. The Office of Wellness and Recreation is in its sixth year putting out the one-page restroom distraction. The main section is typically a few paragraphs on how to make healthy lifestyle choices and the balance is filled with wellness and recreation opportunities, home athletic contests, a brain teaser, and factoids about recycling.
Faculty, staff, and students have taken quite a following to the “Stall Talk.” Comments can be heard in restrooms around campus about answers to the brain teasers, or just reading the fun facts. Aside from students, faculty and even some visitors have taken a more avid approach. Ray Edwards, an assistant coach with the women’s basketball program and an earth science teacher in the Conrad Weiser School District, has taken a particular interest in the “Stall Talk.” While here coaching one day, Edwards stumbled upon a recycling quote in one issue of “Stall Talk” that sparked a major project in his life.
Edwards was inspired by the quote, “Did you know that the energy saved by recycling a plastic water bottle could power a computer for 10 minutes?” When he went back to Weiser, he wrote an email to the rest of the faculty entitled, “Why not, Weiser?” In the body of the email, Edwards simply included the quote from above. He said that he received so many replies that he wrote a new factoid every day, each with the same title, “Why not, Weiser?” After a few weeks, an administrator asked him where he was going with all this. He replied that he was “not going anywhere.”
But then, once again Edwards thought to himself, “Why not?”
And just like that, the start of a district-wide recycling plan was born. The plan began with Edwards meeting with four students, and then the Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds representatives from the county, state, and even the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA). The recycling initiative started in the middle school, and then spread to the other schools in the district, including two elementary schools and a high school. Cardboard, plastic, metal, glass ,and paper are all recycled at Conrad Weiser.
At any school, an enormous amount of paper is consumed. With the current efforts, Weiser has improved to recycling about 50% of its paper, 90% of plastic bottles, and nearly 100% of cardboard. The school is even looking at composting food waste. Edwards is very optimistic about the future of recycling at Weiser. “As the culture changes, it will improve,” he says.
You might wonder how one person could get a whole school district so motivated to make a change. According to Edwards, “It wasn’t that difficult. People want to do the right thing. We had to first educate them how to do the right thing, and then make it easy for them to do the right thing.”
The energy saved by recycling a plastic water bottle could power a computer for 10 minutes
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Just how much of an impact has Edwards and the Conrad Weiser School District made on the environment? They have cut their trash output by somewhere between 40 and 60%, and this year, district-wide they will recycle 750,000 plastic bottles. By starting to compost food waste, Conrad Weiser High School has saved 4,680 gallons of water in one week by not running food disposal units. Aside from immensely helping the environment, the Weiser School District will also benefit. Edwards said, “Next month we will put a system in place so that the recycling company pays us a monthly check for our materials.”
“This effort was about culture change,” Edwards offers. “I believe that culture change happens in revolutions, not slowly.” This is true of any major project. Edwards and the Conrad Weiser School District have made a huge impact on the environment in Berks County, and will ultimately in the surrounding communities.
The pilot program started in the middle school during the second half of last year, and in just the first six weeks of the 2008-09 school year, the culture of the Weiser School District has been changed. By the time October rolls around, Edwards hopes that the system will be completely in place, and the recycling company will pay the school district for their materials. “Our district should see a revenue source from what was once an expense. Most importantly, we teach a very important lesson – stewardship of the planet on a daily basis.”
The energy saved by recycling a plastic water bottle could power a light bulb for four minutes
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The “Why not, Weiser” Recycling Program is beginning to spread. The Berks County Vice Principals have asked Edwards to present the framework of the program to them in October because many of them want to pick up the initiative.
In considering the transition over the last few months Edwards remarks, “You just never know how one little action can have a big impact.”
Recycling one plastic bottle would power a computer long enough to share this story with 4-5 other people.
-- Crusaders --