Back in the Bin

The student-created Newman Green Club and the California-based Go Green Initiative (GGI) have helped the school find corporate partners to purchase bins and containers for the school’s new recycling program.

“New Orleans was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina two years ago,” says GGI founder and executive director Jill Buck. “When you’re trying to rebuild your house, it is hard to think about a recycling program. But the student leaders at Newman School are leading that school’s—and soon the city’s—effort to begin recycling again, and the Go Green Initiative was honored to be asked to help with their effort.”

GGI secured corporate donations for six outdoor containers and $250 toward the purchase of recycling bins. Midpoint International, a Canadian company that produces recycling containers, made a contribution towards the Newman recycling program, as did Kettle Creek and Windsor Barrels, Pennsylvania companies that produce recycling and trash receptacles.    

To date, the school's student-run environmental club has distributed 20 recycling bins to volunteers. The campus will be recycling paper, aluminum and other types of recyclables. As more donors come forward, the school plans to expand the program by distributing more recycling bins.

The leader of the student-run effort says the level of enthusiasm toward the project is astonishing and that the project is both inspiring and educating people about of the importance of environmental care. “I believe that our work will serve as inspiration to others,” says Stanford Rosenthal, a seventh grader at the Newman School. “If New Orleanians, who have suffered so much, can come together to protect the environment and think about the future, then perhaps people will see that anything is possible if we work together.”

The Go Green Initiative works to involve families, businesses and local governments in the common goal of environmental stewardship. Since its inception in July 2002, the Go Green Initiative has been endorsed by the National School Boards Association, National Recycling Coalition, adopted by six State PTA Boards, and has had programs implemented in 39 states and at more than 650 schools, along with schools in Europe, Mexico, and Africa. There are currently more than 1 million students and teachers in registered Go Green schools.