The Green Newton School Connections Committee held its final meeting for the 2018-2019 school year on a celebratory note. The group did a comprehensive survey of school recycling last year with the help of many volunteers. From there they advocated successfully for the Newton School Committee to adopt an official recycling policy and got the new food service vendor to include sustainability in the new contract. The next step is a grant application to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to fund a schools sustainability coordinator position. It took the time and dedication of many people to get so much accomplished in such a short time — thank you!
Highlights:
Newton School Committee Unanimously Passes School Recycling Policy
Link to the policy: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Bj3gRdg2Hz05tjKOG0d136HD12xl_pZ/view
MassDEP Grant: We are getting ready for the application deadline on 06/12/2019. All principals and most necessary city officials have signed the commitment to “support the expansion of a recycling program. After the recycling program is improved, we will continue to support it as an ongoing program within our school district after the grant funding ends.”
Funding ideas to maintain the recycling program: Set up textile recycling collection bins outside each school.
New Food Services: An advisory committee will be established to facilitate communications with the new food service vendor Whitsons about food quality and sustainability.
Reduce and reuse school supplies: Bigelow PTO is promoting the idea of buying fewer school supplies. Newton North High School is considering ways to redistribute usable supplies found in lockers at the end of the school year.
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