For Immediate Release Contact: Collin Nash or Sid Nathan
November 21, 2008 (516) 869 7794
Carle Place School District Joins North Hempstead’s Town-wide Recycling Initiative
Carle Place, NY—Eight-grader Michael LoGrasso has a pressing urge to tell some of his peers in Carle Place schools a thing or two about making an effort to protect the health of their most prized inheritance: planet Earth.
Sometimes they just drop trash wherever, LoGrasso, 13, said of his schoolmates. “I’m hoping to encourage my friends not to litter and to start recycling,” LoGrasso said recently the announcement of the delivery of more than 300 recycling bins to the Carle Place Middle/High School on Cherry Lane.
With the unveiling recently of a comprehensive recycling program encompassing all North Hempstead buildings, the parks and the majority of schools in the town, Supervisor Jon Kaiman also is hoping to sow the seeds of a culture of institutionalized recycling among the youth.
“We will be doing a great service to our town, our taxpayers and our planet,” Supervisor Kaiman told administrators and students at the launch last week of the town-wide recycling program in the Carle Place School district.
To date, five other school districts, Sewanhaka, Manhasset, Herricks, Port Washington and Great Neck have been delivered brand new recycling containers.
In addition to annual efforts such as Earth Day, the EcoFestival, Clean Sweep, the Green Team Clean up operation and Keep it Clean, the town has purchased hybrid cars and buses, incorporated green building technology in its municipal construction projects as well as re-seeded the bays and waterways with shell fish.
To help make the recycling program work, Kaiman said, he has “committed” to developing a plan to manage the collection of all the recyclables it generates ensuring that what is collected is actually recycled and thereby saving taxpayers money.
To help drum up support and interest in the program among the youth, Kaiman has invited student interns from each district to work in Town Hall as part of a committee to coordinate the effort.
Flanked by Grosso and dozens of members of the Environmental Action Club at Carle Place schools, North Hempstead Town Councilman Robert Troiano thanked administrators for “having the vision” to partner with the town in its sweeping recycling initiative.
“The estimated 35 billion plastic bottles that are tossed into the general waste stream is equivalent to 150 tankers filled with oil,” Troiano told the group. “Starting today, Carle Place can begin to turn that around.”
For more information on the town’s Recycling Outreach Program please call 311 or visit www.northhempsteadny.gov and click on “Join Mailing List” for weekly updates from Town Hall.
Principal Neil Connolly, Superintendent Michael Mahoney, Supervisor Kaiman, Councilman Troiano, Alex Huang (Grade 7), Joe Tragna (7) Rachael Martines (7) Tim Leung (7) Jamie Martines (12) Susan Bourla (Crossroads/EAC adviser), Ben Martinez (8) Monique Slater (7) Shelby Fuller (7) Pat Ramsawak (EAC adviser) Marisa Caramanica (10) Michael LoGrasso (8) Gianna Caramanica (8) Jenna Curiale (7) , Deputy Commissioner of Solid Waste Management Authority Igor Sikiric, Town Recycling Coordinator Susanna Laruccia and Acting Commissioner of Community Services Kimberly Corcoran.