Pali Elem Wins Recycling Award

By MELISSA BEAL Palisadian-Post Contributor Palisades Charter Elementary and Kenter Canyon Charter Elementary were selected by the City of Los Angeles as runners-up for this year’s Recycling Excellence Award. More than 200 schools participated and only nine received recognition. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton presented the awards to the schools on the steps of City Hall at the ‘Keep Los Angeles Beautiful’ kick-off event on March 3. Palisades Principal Tami Weiser and fifth-grader Mara Greenwald accepted the award and a $1,000 check for the school. ‘It was pretty cool, not an everyday thing,’ Greenwald said of receiving the award from Sen. Clinton. The ceremony began an event that was part of the national ‘Keep America Beautiful’ campaign and attracted more than 5,000 volunteers who targeted four zones in downtown L.A. and Hollywood for clean up and beautification activities including litter pick up, graffiti removal and tree planting. Groups of students, teachers and parents from both schools attended the ceremony. Five months ago, Pali parents Kelly Williams and Sid Greenwald developed the Green Team to raise awareness about recycling and the environment at Palisades Elementary. One of their first initiatives was to reduce the amount of trash from student lunches. Before taking any action, students weighed the trash following one day’s lunch. Then, for $1, students were able to purchase plastic containers and cloth napkins that could be reused, thereby reducing the amount of waste made by one-time-use packaging like single-serve applesauce containers and sandwich bags. All students were provided with free Green Team sports bottles to reduce the number of drink containers thrown away each day. When students reweighed their lunch refuse the following month, they discovered that they had decreased their waste by half. To add incentive to reducing trash at lunch, the class whose post-lunch rubbish weighs the least is rewarded with an ice cream party. ‘Kids realize that this is their earth and if we don’t take care of it they’re going to grow up and not have the resources they need,’ Weiser said. In their endeavor, students discovered that the classic little school lunch milk carton is not recyclable. Since hundreds of these cartons were used daily, Pali Elementary switched to milk pouches, which can be recycled. Although the recycling contest is over, the school will continue its commitment to greener living. Earlier this month, as part of the ‘California Recycles’ program, the school collected electronics, like TVs and computers, that cannot be thrown away. Last week, students planted fruit trees around campus with planters decorated with recycled materials, and in April the school will have a mini eco-film festival, where they will show environmental films like the Academy Award-winning documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in the auditorium. They are also looking into starting a carpooling program. With blue recycling bins and boxes throughout campus and in every classroom, students are reminded to continue with their everyday recycling. ‘Recycling is better for the environment,’ Mara Greenwald said. ‘We can have a healthier world.’