We Got Plans for Your Cans, October

Click here to view past Recycling Drive Participants.

Click to view the The 50’s Rock-n-Roll Magic Show Recycling and Magic

“We Got Plans For Your Cans”
Prizes List

District Provides:

• Up to 5 cardboard collection containers that the school may keep to continue can collection
• Roll of plastic bags for containers
• Posters announcing collection

Organize the Can Drive By:

• Determining how your schools internal can recycling contest will operate.
• Setting up can recycling bins in the classrooms or other convenient locations.
• Hanging up posters in hallways and classrooms and putting up announcement in front of the school.
• Sending home announcement to parents.
• Reading the can drive progress on the morning announcements.
• Keeping track of number of cans or bags that students bring from home.

What to do with the Cans?

• Recycle them at home.
• Take the bags to a scrap metal recycler and get cash back for the cans for class treat.
• Donate them to a local a fire department that collects cans for burned children.
• If you have over ten bags and no one to transport them either ask your city service center if they could pick them up, it counts towards their report card or contact Kathleen.
• Need help, call Kathleen at 216-443-3731.

Sponsored by Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District and Novelis

Earth Day Poster Contest, January
The contest is to honor Earth Day through artwork. It is opened to individuals and classrooms of first through eighth grade students. Each year a theme is chosen, so look at contest flyer for details. Artwork must be submitted on 8.5"x 11" white paper in full color and mailed flat. Each entry should include the artist's name, grade, teacher or group leader, school or group name and address. Entries will be judged by grade level. Grade level winners are featured on an Earth Day Calendar. Click here to view the 2009 contest winners.

Zero Waste Challenge, April
A “Zero Waste” School contender will attempt to make the least amount of waste during lunch on their challenge day. This a great project for a student council, environmental club or PTA to organize and monitor. The winning school will become the “Zero Waste” title holder for the year and is awarded recycled milk jug bench. The challenge is held on one day chosen by the school on or before April 28, 2010.

All schools participating will receive up to 20 “Zero Waste” lunch boxes to be distributed to organizers or students who set a good example. Schedule the Education Specialist to visit during lunch to hand out small prizes for any student with a waste free lunch.   

Zero Waste Challenger Title Holders

• 2009 Incarnate Word Academy, Parma
• 2008 Birchwood School, Cleveland
• 2007 Birchwood School, Cleveland
• 2006 Birchwood School, Cleveland
• 2005 Scranton Elementary, Cleveland
• 2003 Saint Richards, North Olmsted
• 2002 Bethany Lutheran School, Cleveland
  

Zero Waste Challenge Results for 2009
Six schools competed this year with a total of 2,083 students in the lunch waste reduction activity. I applaud all of the schools. This is the seventh year of the challenge with the most number of schools and students participating. The challenge winner is the school that achieved the lowest percentage of waste generated at lunch. Congratulations to a new comer, Incarnate Word Academy in Parma for becoming the 2009 “Zero Waste” Challenge title holder. Incarnate Word Academy will receive a recycled plastic lumber park bench as the grand prize.

Bethany Lutheran with a hot lunch program has been competing for six years, and they are in second place. With the help of student council, they decreased their waste by 0.002% over last year. Thoreau Park, the largest school in the challenge decreased their waste from last year by 0.012% and is in third place. They save their milk cartons for a project and composted some of the food waste.

Most schools decrease their the volume of trash by half on the challenge day. Two schools this year weighed their trash before educating the student about packing a zero waste lunch. Both reduced their waste by 69 pounds. Incarnate Word Academy had a baseline of lunch time trash as 93.5 pounds. On the Zero Waste Challenge Day trash was only 24 pounds. Onaway Elementary had 130 pounds of lunch trash and on Challenge Day they only had 61 pounds. It does add up. If one school eliminate 69 pounds of trash per day, they would prevent 12,765 pounds of trash from being landfilled throughout the school year.

The ultimate goal is zero waste, and hopefully all the participating students and their parents will continue to plan and pack waste free lunches.

Poetree Contest, May
Discover the poet in your students with poetry written about trees. The contest is for Cuyahoga County kindergarten to twelfth grade students. The tree poem must be written on single side of letter-sized paper. Drawings are allowed. On back of entry, student's name, address, school and grade is required. Each grade level winner will be awarded tree related prizes. All participates will receive a certification of participation. Entries due by May 7, 2024 with winners announced and prizes awarded in May. Click to view the 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 contest winners.

2009 Contest Winners

Special Programs

This annual spring program involves a group or school organizing and carrying out an outdoor clean up at school, church or club ground site or in a nearby public space. A teacher, group leader or adult volunteer can organize and conduct a litter pick up to earn five to ten tree seedlings for the group to plant and maintain. Trees are chosen to benefit wildlife and/or are native to the region.

Over time this program will provide different species of trees, bushes and flowers to help create an outdoor learning lab. Trees should be planted where the class or group can water them and observe their progress. The seedlings will be larger than first year seedlings to improve their chances of survival over the spring and summer. Make sure to make the grounds keepers earn of your planting project and the group may want to mark or fence the seedlings, so they are not mowed.

Litter bags and other prizes are available for conducting the litter pick up. Tree requests are due by late March, so seedlings can be ordered and ready for planting in late April and early May.

This program is worth putting on your calendar every year. Your class or group could partner with a local garden club or master gardener to plant pride and help keep kids from littering.

In 2005, 87 Oak, Wild Black Cherry and Seviceberry seedlings were planted by 11 schools.

In 2006, 128 Northern pecan, Sugar maple and White flowering dogwood seedlings were planted by 16 schools.

In 2007, 160 Black Walnut, Red Mulberry and American Witch hazel seedlings along with over 800 summer blooming bulbs of Gladiolus, Oxalis, Lilies and Anemones were planted by 21 schools and community groups.

In 2008, 151 Catalpa, Yellow Birch and American Elderberry seedling were planted along with perennial plants and seeds. 13 schools participated in the program with 942 students picking up litter and planting.
Thanks to the following schools for greening and beautifying their neighborhood: Parkview Elementary, Early Childhood Development Center, West Park Community School, Fernway Elementary, Strongsville High School, Fairfax Elementary, Highland Middle, Chagrin Falls Troop 1991, Lawrence School, Independence Primary, Birchwood School, Cuyahoga Heights Elementary, Warrensville Heights High School.

Earth Day Activities and Projects