Six years later, Lynn school recycling program a success

LYNN – The Lynn Public School recycling program is six years old, and although there are fewer open schools than there were in 2002, those close to the effort say kids are recycling paper now more than ever, saving schools money and helping the environment at the same time.Students began filling recycle bins with paper and cardboard well before Hollywood starlets or Al Gore made going green the hip thing to do, and as the awareness of environmental and economic issues continues to grow, organizers are hoping more parents will start placing recycle bins in their own homes.The school recycling program is run through the Lynn DPW with the help of Waste Management Services, the company contracted for all of the recycling in the city. The concept is simple, if someone is going to throw away paper; it goes in a recycle bin. Once a week at each school a designated team of students and teachers empties the bins into a larger “toter” which is then left on the curb and hauled away.With paper waste making up an estimated 90 percent of the trash produced by schools, students and teachers take advantage of the program to the tune of an estimated 600-1,000 tons of paper recycled each year, according to numbers derived from a three-week recycling survey conducted by the DPW in 2006.In addition to helping save the environment, the program also goes a long way in helping the schools and the city save money. While schools are charged a fee for regular trash pick up, the recycling program is free, and according to Assistant DPW Commissioner Manuel Alcantara, 50 percent of the money made from the recycled paper comes back to the city.According to the survey, Alcantara estimates that 40 weeks of recycling can save the school department nearly $40,000 each year.”The more they recycle, the more savings they can have because instead of throwing it in with the additional trash that the taxpayer pays for, they are recycling it for free,” said Alcantara. “Every time you see a piece of paper on the floor you put it in the recycle bin because that is money.”One of the largest producers of recycled material in the city is Breed Middle School, which fills more than a dozen toters each week and has requested two more from the DPW.Under the leadership of guidance councilor Nancy Zimerowski and National Honor Society teachers Joan Wiendczak and Maria Fenn, the program has become a big part of life at the school where teachers continue to preach the importance of paper recycling.”Nancy Zimerowski was really instrumental in getting this started here initially. You think ‘we recycle at home, why can’t we do it in the schools?'” said Wiendczak. “It has generated enough interest that we were able to get together and make it work.”Along with hauling off the bins of paper, the DPW also provides education for students with the help of Matt Proodian, the recycling enforcement coordinator. Proodian and other DPW staff enter the schools each year to educate students on the program, handing out learning material and showing the students around the recycling trucks.”On DPW week when we go to teach kids what the recycling program is all about kids ask questions, we hand out brochures and tell them what is OK to recycle and what isn’t,” said Alcantara. “We don’t do plastics because if you leave a half a bottle of (soda) in the bin it can contaminate everything and then it can’t be recycled. So it is important for kids to know that it is just paper.”While educating the student is the main goal of the recycling program, Alcantara says it is equally important students go home and educate their parents. Residents in Lynn can recycle paper on their regular trash day and the DPW hopes that the strong, influential voice of children can get more adults interested in recycling.”The main objective is to educate kids so kids can educate their parents,” said Alcantara.