The Irving
Independent School District has reached a recycling
milestone….they have passed the one million pound mark.
The recycling milestone was achieved in March, 2006.
Since
implementing the school-wide comprehensive recycling
program funded by a pass-through grant, which Irving
received from the North Central Texas Council of
Governments and the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality, the school district’s recycling numbers have
soared.
“It was an
immediate success”, said Fran Witte, City of Irving and
coordinator of the project. Witte stated that the school
district had a recycling program in place, but lack
continuity among the schools and their infrastructure.
“The funds
allowed the school district to have a uniform system in
place, so that all classrooms and offices were given
recycling bins for their paper. The funds also paid for
better custodial collection equipment so that the trash
and recyclables could be collected at the same time, but
in separate carts, then moved to the correct containers
for proper disposal”.
Since implementing
the program over a year ago in February of 2005, Keep
Irving Beautiful has partnered with the school district
and their recycler Abitibi Consolidated Inc. to develop
innovative approaches to help keep students and faculty
interested in recycling. Many of the schools have
developed “green teams” to not only promote recycling,
but to also encourage a more environmentally sound campus
as a whole. Outreach has also extended to neighborhoods
for the collection of paper and cans as schools compete
for valuable recyclables as part of Abitibi
Consolidated’s annual paper competition.
Since implementing
the comprehensive recycling program in the Irving ISD, the
program has seen an almost 45% increase in paper
recycling. Additionally, the collection of aluminum cans
was added to the program. Approximately 3 tons of aluminum
cans are collected each quarter.
“Of course, the
revenues that individual schools make from their recycling
efforts is a great incentive for them to recycle as much
as possible”, Witte stated.
Reprinted from
NCTCOG Insider July 2006 Newsletter (http://www.nctcog.org/envir/features/2006/jul/index.asp).
For more
information about the Irving ISD recycling program,
contact Fran Witte with the City of Irving at (972)
721-2355 or Bob Horton, City of Irving’s Keep Irving
Beautiful Administrator at (972) 721-2347. You can also
log on to the Irving ISD’s recycling web page at www.irvingisd.net/recycle.
