King County Green Schools Program honors school district

Increased recycling rates and decreased expenses for garbage disposal are among the benefits that the Auburn School District has realized from its partnership with the King County Green Schools Program.

King County recently honored the school district for improving its recycling practices and other conservation efforts over the past two years.

“The Auburn School District has made a strong commitment to conserving natural resources,” said Dale Alekel, King County Green Schools Program manager. “This school year the district continues to make improvements and to realize cost savings as a result of its ongoing conservation efforts.”

Green Schools Program representatives conducted site visits in the district’s facilities, provided recycling containers for classrooms, lunchrooms and offices and dollies to assist custodians with collection of recyclable materials. The program also provided recycling stickers for each recycling container listing what can and cannot be recycled.

With assistance from the Green Schools Program, which helps school staff, teachers and students to conserve natural resources and become better stewards of the environment, the Auburn School District has experienced increased recycling rates during the past two school years at 16 of the district’s 22 schools.

For example, Gildo Rey Elementary School increased its recycling rate from 43 percent to 67 percent, resulting in cost savings of approximately $425 per month or $4,230 per year. These savings were achieved because the school reduced garbage pick up from twice per week to once per week.

Another school, Auburn Mountainview High School, increased its recycling rate from 35 percent to 55 percent over the past two years. Now the school has begun to recycle food scraps and other compostable materials, collected by Cedar Grove Composting. And while the district pays for this collection service, the net result is a cost savings of $580 per month through reduced garbage collection fees.

The district also conserved energy and water use by taking several steps, including:

• Installing programmable thermostats in portables

• Maintaining “energy misers” on all vending machines

• Checking schools for personal use appliances, which are discouraged by policy

• Purchasing software that automatically shuts down computers after extended periods of inactivity

• Installing faucet aerators and low-flow faucets

• Installing rain gages on all irrigation systems.

Randy Thomas, director of maintenance and operations for the school district, accepted certificates recognizing both his individual efforts to save resources and the district’s overall conservation achievements. Thomas worked throughout the district to improve recycling, reduce litter and illegal dumping, and decrease energy and water use.

“Auburn School District was very pleased with the support received from the King County Green Schools Program,” Thomas said. “The benefits experienced were instrumental in moving the district toward a more comprehensive district-wide resource conservation program.”

The county also honored Eric Boutin, director of child nutrition, for his work that included reducing food waste through diligent kitchen management; partnering with local farmers for fresh, organic foods for district lunchrooms; establishing a pilot food scrap composting program; and creating a school garden where students can learn about sustainable practices.

Jeff Gaisford, manager of the Recycling and Environmental Services Section of the King County Solid Waste Division, presented the awards and noted that one of the district’s most important achievements was to create a resource conservation manager position, filled by Jay Donnaway, in October 2008.

“The Green Schools Program has assisted 10 school districts over the past six years, and we have clearly seen that districts with a resource conservation manager have been able to conserve more than school districts without such a position,” Gaisford said.

“Energy, water use and garbage volumes all escalate, and utility costs increase, when they are not being monitored regularly,” he said. “In contrast, districts with resource conservation managers make greater strides in reducing garbage volumes and energy and water use – and their related costs – and to maintain those savings over time.”

More information about the King County Green Schools Program is available by calling Alekel at 206-296-8457 or visiting www.kingcounty.gov/GreenSchools.

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