For Immediate Release Media Contact: Collin Nash or Sid Nathan
Feb 25, 2010 (516) 869 7794
East Williston Joins TONH’s School Recycling Partnership Program
Roslyn Heights, NY—More than 150 middle school students from Willets Road School in Roslyn Heights joined Supervisor Jon Kaiman and Town Councilman Thomas Dwyer recently to unveil the School Recycling Partnership Program in East Williston Schools, the ninth district to sign onto the comprehensive, award-winning initiative.
“Recycling makes you one of the most powerful people in the world because you are helping to preserve the planet,” Supervisor Kaiman told the students. “We thank you for doing your part in helping to protect Mother Earth.”
“You are an important ambassador,” Councilman Tom Dwyer, a Willets Road School alumnus told the students. “Keeping the environment healthy will not only impact your world today but that of future generations. I thank all of you for making this happen.”
Nine of North Hempstead’s 11 school districts now participate in the School Recycling Partnership Program, totaling more than 30,000 students. Among them, they collected more than 450 tons of paper last year alone, saving approximately 7,500 trees.
Every classroom and office in each of the nine participating districts have been supplied with two recycling bins with specialized lids, one for the collection of bottles and cans and the other for the collection of paper. On average, approximately 25 tons of paper and 6 tons of co-mingles are collected each month.
To help sustain the program and promote its success, Supervisor Kaiman committed to managing the collection of all the recyclables generated, ensuring that what is collected is actually recycled and thereby saving taxpayers’ money while protecting the environment at the same time.
Following in the wake of accolades last year from the Sierra Club and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Supervisor Jon Kaiman’s brainchild was one of four programs honored by the DEC in Albany last fall at the Sixth New York State Environmental Excellence Awards.
The program was expanded last year to include the distribution of industrial scales to each of the participating schools, allowing students to measure the collected recyclables so they can figure out, for example, how many trees were saved as a result of their efforts.
The scales were acquired courtesy of a grant obtained by New York Senator Craig Johnson on behalf of the Town.
Participating schools also host periodic e-waste collection events.
“A small ripple can ultimately affect an entire ocean,” Superintendent Lorna Lewis told the gathering of fifth, sixth and seventh-graders. “We are embarking on an important initiative to help save the planet.”
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Caption: (L to R) Councilman Thomas Dwyer, Superintendent Dr. Lorna Lewis, Supervisor Jon Kaiman, and members of the school board gather in front of 150 teachers and students to welcome the School Recycling Partnership Program.