School Recycling Contest
2007 Top Recycling School: Nashville School of the Arts
(from left to right) Julius Turnipseed, Ecology teacher; Delaine Linville, Metro Beautification; Eureka Jackson, Metro Public Works; Joe Edgens, Executive Director of Operations/MNPS; Bob Wilson, Principal; Jenna Smith-Sexter, Metro Public Works; Wayne Gill, Allied Waste; Anna Page, Council Woman; Veronica Frazier, Executive Director, Metro Beautification & Environment Commission
As this year’s model for school recycling efforts, Nashville School
of the Arts will receive a $250 cash award, rolling recycling
carts for use in the school hallways, and ~ for the students
~ recycled currency key chains and recycled plastic boomerangs.
Metro Public Works and Metro Beautification hosted a pizza
party for Julius Turnipseed's Ecology class, the students who
are directly responsible for the school's recycling success.
Mr. Turnipseed wanted to create a school recycling program at Nashville School of the Arts because “I know how important it is for us as a society to come up with better ways to handle our waste products.” The first step was for his ecology students to visit Metro’s Recycle Education Classroom “so the students could see the recycling process and understand its importance,” he said. The students ran their program as if it were a job – a company providing a service to and making it simple for their customers to use.
“These students, their sponsor, and along with the support of their school’s administration did a terrific job. Their fine example as good environmental stewards will help us expand this effective and meaningful recycling program so that all schools in our community can participate in this important effort,” said Veronica Frazier, executive director of Metro Beautification and Environment Commission (MBEC).
Other winning schools:
Making the 2007 contest Top 10 and deserving honorable mention for their recycling efforts are: Glencliff High School, Percy Priest Elementary, Neely’s Bend Middle, Napier Enhanced Option, Gra-Mar Middle, JT Moore Middle, Bordeaux Elementary, Antioch Middle and Pearl-Cohn Magnet High School.
About the Contest
Metro Public Works’ “Anything That Tears” recycling program is a partnership with Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and Allied Waste (formerly BFI) and Metro Beautification & Environment Commission. Allied Waste provides dumpsters which are emptied weekly. Metro Beautification and Environment supplies recycling education and support for the schools.
During the 2006-07 school year approximately 80 MNPS schools participated in the recycling program. Metro Public Works staff surveyed the dumpsters and measured recycling volumes for seven weeks to determine the winning school.
In early 2006, Metro Public Works, MNPS and Allied Waste initiated school recycling with a pilot program in the Hunter’s Lane school cluster with 11 schools participating. The 2006 winning school was Neely’s Bend Middle School. Plans are underway for next school year to further expand this worthy program to remaining schools at MNPS.