A school-wide, comprehensive recycling effort started on day one at PS160 in Brooklyn. The principal clearly detailed the expectations for recycling to all teachers and staff. Student recycling monitors made sure daily that the proper materials were going into the proper bins in classrooms and the cafeteria, culminating in a competition aimed at five consecutive days of perfect recycling. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (4.5 MB), part 2 (2.25 MB).

Students took every opportunity to promote recycling and waste awareness at PS 230 in Brooklyn. Students created Public Service Announcements, volunteered as classroom, cafeteria, and movie night recycling monitors, and created informational posters to spread the word about why and how to recycle. A school-wide assembly and Earth Day art project reinforced the recycling message. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (3.5 MB), part 2 (5.5 MB).

Super Recycler Team members monitored recycling in each class. Students created posters, skits, and dances about the importance of recycling. The Parent's Association embraced the school's recycling effort by sponsoring an assembly called "Kid Power" about making environmentally conscious choices. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (1.7 MB), part 2 (5.6 MB).

Classrooms competed for Golden Trash Can awards for the best recycling effort. Green Team members promoted recycling through instructional posters and an online blog, and enforced recycling by monitoring items found in the trash and recycling bins. The school newspaper reported on recycling progress and Green Week festivities, which included how-to recycle classes and a school-wide Go Green Assembly with skits and songs. See pages from winning entry (4 MB).

Classroom lessons, a school-wide mural project, speeches by student council representatives, and a poster contest communicated awareness of why and how to recycle at PS 188. "Recycling Police" in each classroom monitored recycling compliance. Students charted progress of the recycling program over time, and demonstrated the ability to recycle food waste through composting. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (2.15 MB), part 2 (2.15 MB).

The Queens Compost Project selected this school for the NYC Compost Project Golden Shovel Award because this school's fall leaves, Halloween pumpkins, and fruit and vegetable scraps from the cafeteria didn't go into trash can and garbage trucks; they went into a compost bin instead. Students, teachers, and the school's custodial staff worked together to collect their organic waste, and transform it into nutrient-rich compost that improves soil health and provides essential nutrients to plants.

Students, teachers, and custodial staff worked together with the principal to recycle in classrooms, hallways, the lunchroom, and office. Students used scientific observation skills to measure and weigh the paper recycled in the classroom, and graphed results. The school started a vegetable garden and composted yard trimmings on the school grounds using a mulch mower. Students' presentations in the science fair focused on recycling and composting. See pages from winning entry (3.6 MB).

Students in this special needs school joined with the elementary school in their building to improve recycling building wide. Teachers and staff reinforced recycling fundamentals through entertaining and educational activities. Students competed in a recycling relay race to put items in the correct bins, created a recycling song, based on the green and blue bins, and custom signs to promote correct recycling. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (1.8 MB), part 2 (4 MB).

The school's Recycling Athletes Club, with the support of the Parent's Association, started a recycling program. Club members researched what can be recycled, and developed a presentation to educate their parents. They also conducted surveys to document what was thrown out or recycled in each classroom, as well as at their homes. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (4.4 MB), part 2 (4.3 MB).

Students, teachers, and staff collaborated to set up and implement a new recycling program. Persuasive letters written by students convinced their Assemblyman to provide a stipend to buy bins. They placed labeled recycling bins throughout the school and "Trashbusters" club members created motivational posters and documented how much was collected each week. See pages from winning entry (1.9 MB).

A motivated first grader single-handedly got her school to set up a recycling program. She worked with the custodian to obtain, label, and place recycling bins in the classrooms and office. She created and distributed flyers to teachers and staff about what to recycle. Her class helped promote the effort by making posters to hang around the school. The lower grades also incorporated recycling into social studies and literacy lessons. See pages from winning entry (4.75 MB).

Classrooms competed for Golden Trash Can awards for the best recycling effort. Green Team members promoted recycling through instructional posters and an online blog, and enforced recycling by monitoring items found in the trash and recycling bins. The school newspaper reported on recycling progress and Green Week festivities, which included how-to recycle classes and a school-wide Go Green Assembly with skits and songs. See pages from winning entry (4.4 MB).

This school focused on making sure recycling is set up properly in all classrooms, offices, and in the cafeteria. Recycling detectives were in charge of documenting and analyzing compliance. Other activities included a recycling-themed essay, and contests for trivia, rap songwriting, and poster design. See pages from winning entry (4.15 MB).

The Green Team turned "Trashy into Classy" with motivational and educational activities including posters, a bulletin board, game-show style trivia competitions, and an Earth Day presentation. Students encouraged paper recycling by placing properly labeled bins in all classrooms, offices, and lounges. They started a milk carton recycling campaign in the cafeteria and encouraged bottle and can recycling with properly labeled bins on each floor. See pages from winning entry (4.7 MB).

The Super Green Eco Team promoted waste reduction and reuse by implementing multiple strategies: the use of scrap paper, reusable cleaning cloths, and reusable water bottles. They held competitions to motivate participation and documented changes in behavior. As a way to go paperless, the school developed a "School Hub" intranet site to communicate with parents and staff. See pages from winning entry (4.4 MB).

St. George School integrated its commitments to community service and waste reduction through ongoing donation drives and an annual Earth Day swap-your-stuff event where students exchange various belongings and donate any leftover items to charity. To further foster awareness, students entered a how green can you be? contest to describe their waste habits, created art projects reusing everyday objects, and wrote poetry and song lyrics highlighting the importance of conservation. See pages from winning entry (4.6 MB).

The student Green Team, in partnership with the school's Sustainability Task Force, led Grace Church School's efforts to reduce waste and consumption. The school facilitated multiple initiatives to actively reuse materials. They held a Halloween costume swap and an ongoing "freecycle" exchange program, sold bags created from reused material and energy efficient "Holiday LED Lights" for fundraisers, and collected spent pens for artistic reuse by The Pen Guy. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (3.4 MB), part 2 (3.2 MB).

Manhattan East targeted paper for reuse and waste reduction by collecting and using scrap paper, encouraging teachers to make double-sided copies, and transferring grade and progress reporting to an online system. The Manhattan Compost Project selected this school for the NYC Compost Project Golden Shovel Award because the Environmental Action class composted food waste using a worm bin, learned how the decomposition process occurs, and used the finished compost to grow new plants, and planned a partnership with another school in their building to revive a languishing rooftop garden. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (4.6 MB), part 2 (4.35 MB).

A small but committed Green Leaf Student Club motivated the large student body at Brooklyn Tech to reduce what they throw away through an awareness campaign, and by holding a series of collection drives. The Club promoted a reuse message through artwork, handmade brochures, tabling events, and letters to teachers. To track their individual behavior modification, Club members kept daily logs of their waste reduction efforts. See pages from winning entry (4.6 MB).

Students, teachers, and staff teamed up to "Wake Up Woodside". After learning the fundamentals of teamwork from the Queens College Varsity Baseball team, they planted over 30 trees at the school and surrounding neighborhood through the NY State Dept of Environmental Conservation School Seeding Program, in support of the Million TreesNYC mission. Staff and students also teamed up with the PTA to beautify the school yard, and improve the landscaping around a new school sign. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (4.65 MB), part 2 (4.85 MB).

PS/MS 47Q in Queens honored a late, beloved teacher in their Team Up to Clean Up project. Students collected aluminum cans from home and from the cleanup of a neighborhood lot to create a memorial sculpture of a fish. Teachers integrated lessons into all curricular areas to plan, design, and explore the significance of the sculpture and the materials. See pages from winning entry, part 1 (2.7 MB), part 2 (4.1 MB).