2007 Longhorn Recycle Roundup Winners...Congratulations to the below schools for their outstanding campus recycling, conservation, and beautification initiatives. Winning school receive $500 to continue to improve upon their Green efforts.

• Austin Discovery School
• Bryker Woods Elementary School
• Garza Independence High School
• Gullett Elementary School
• Summitt Elementary School

Schools with new recycling programs are recognized with the Coca-Cola Recycle Rookie Award. The 2007 Coca-Cola Recycle Rookie Award and $250 cash prize winner is Eanes Elementary School.

The $100 Longhorn Recycle Roundup Drawing goes to Lake Travis High School.

2007 Longhorn Recycle Roundup Winner Highlights

Austin Discovery School
In the last year Austin Discover School went from 3 small vegetable gardens, a “bird feeder” garden, and basic butterfly garden to a school-wide compost system, an increase in the size of their vegetable gardens, and an expansive butterfly garden. They also doubled the size of their orchard, marketed a paper recycling program, held a Clean Creek day, began the installation of a pond, and had a festival to celebrate water. 

The butterfly garden was designed in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and all ADS students, from K-5th grade, helped to install plants and add mulch.  ADS students maintain the garden and study plant cycles, uses of plants and decomposition in the garden.  Students are also responsible for transporting food waste from collection buckets in the cafeterias to be turned into the outside compost bins. A full marketing program was drawn up to promote the school paper recycling program including placing bins in each classroom and creating and posting signs in the classrooms, bathrooms, and cafeterias to remind students to recycle and use less.  In the spring, 30 ADS families participated in a Saturday cleanup and learned that tires were the most abundant and heaviest of all the materials collected. We are now officially a Clean Creek Campus. 

Bryker Woods Elementary School
Bryker Woods Elementary’s comprehensive approach to environmental stewardship sets them apart form other schools. Their activities blend recycling and conservation into the school curriculum while involving teachers, students and parents to green their campus. Ongoing paper, plastic bottle, aluminum can, cell phone and shopping bag recycling at the campus is complimented with plastic and aluminum recycling at School Night, Fall Carnival and other school events.

The PTA raised funds through  weekly breakfast taco sales to eliminate Styrofoam trays in the cafeteria and replace them with reusable trays. As a result, the custodial staff is taking out six fewer bags of trash per day. Additional waste from the cafeteria is diverted into the schools four outdoor compost bins and classroom worm-composting bins in the kindergarten, 2nd, 4th and 6th grades. The school has a certified Wildlife Habitat and has held work days with students and parents to cleanup Shoal Creek. Their latest project includes rebuilding an outdoor classroom on the banks of Shoal Creek.

Garza High School
At Garza the greening efforts are student conceived, developed, implemented at evaluated. Projects range from school wide Thursday Recycling, to Campus Beautification, to participation in the Wednesday’s Farmer’s Market. The school maintains a weekly recycling collection of paper, glass, aluminum cans and plastics. Since August, 8 tons of paper and aluminum cans have been recycled in the two recyclers and 10 twenty-four gallon bags of glass and plastics have been taken to Ecology Action.  Faculty and staff bring in compostable scraps that the students use to maintain three compost bins. Cardboard is reused as a weed barrier for the gardens and paper is reused 3-6 inches at a time to function as a slow mulch.

The campus is adorned with a multitude of gardens to attract wildlife, serve as ornamental and meditation areas, and teaching venues for the students. The school is in the process of installing a pond that inspires exploration and will be an outdoor lab for the biology and science classes. The many greening efforts at Garza are accomplished through the efforts of the 150+ students and partnerships with local organizations and companies. Garza continues to work to reduce their environmental footprint and sustainability in their horticulture programs.

Gullett Elementary School
Gullett, is known as “the living school” due to its commitment to hands-on science and its renewed commitment to recycling and conservation. The school began recycling aluminum cans in 1981 and continues its efforts today with over 118,487 lbs of cans recycled from 1987 – 2007. Money collected from the aluminum can recycling program is distributed to teachers for use in their classroom and to the custodial staff as a thank you for their assistance in managing the project. The latest addition to the school recycling program is the collection of cell phones.

Gullett’s beautification programs are blossoming as well. In the fall of 2006, teachers, parents, students and volunteers planted nearly 300 native perennials, shrubs and trees in the 4th grade courtyard that serves as a new teaching garden. The following spring, teachers and students built five raised beds to create a Native American crop garden. Over the summer, volunteers kept the garden watered and no that school is in session again, students, teachers, and after-school groups regularly maintain and use the garden as a teaching venue. No matter the season the Gullett community is working toward a greener campus.

Summitt Elementary School
With Summitt Elementary School’s recycling program and earth-friendly habits it has become a green place to learn, teach, and play. Every opportunity to practice sustainability is taken at Summitt from small scale can and bottle recycling in the teachers’ lounge to school-wide paper recycling including a phone book recycling contest. Fliers were sent home to encourage phone book recycling, paper recycling presentations educated students on the importance of recycling, and the classrooms who collected the most were awarded a “Super Recycler” ribbon with their photo featured on the Summitt Recycling Ambassadors Bulletin Board in the Main Hall. 

Recycling doesn’t stop with paper; classes and families try to ‘out-can’ each other by recycling the most aluminum cans, Paperboard Wednesdays aims to collect paperboard that cannot be collected curbside or in the Abitibi Recycling containers, plastic bottles are collected at school events and recycled curbside, and cell phones and ink cartridges are shipped to EcoPhones for recycling. Money raised from the recycling programs support school environmental projects including campus teaching gardens, an outdoor classroom, and butterfly gardens.

RECYCLE ROOKIE
Eanes Elementary School
Eanes Elementary School adds a twist to their campus recycling campaign. Their efforts focus around reuse and art. The art classes eliminated the trash can from the art room and turned it into a recycle bin for plastic and aluminum. Colored papers are sorted and shredded to use in making homemade paper. Cardboard is reused in collage, sculpture and printing projects. 5th graders are competing in an outdoor sculpture garden using Styrofoam and house paint donated from the community. Students make a pledge at the beginning of the year to help save the earth and parents and community volunteers have joined in the efforts. The latest focus is on alternative fuel sources and making 3-D model cars from school milk cartons. Their Go Green efforts don’t stop on campus… the school sends reusable materials to a sister school in Kosovo to be used.

The 2007 Longhorn Recycling Roundup is sponsored by Allied Waste, Austin Coca-Cola, H-E-B, Fox-7 KTBC, Longhorn Sports Network, and The University of Texas.