September 19, 2010

The Starkville School District has partnered with Starkville Recycling to begin a district-wide recycling effort.
Thanks to donations from Green Starkville, Synergetics, Starkville Counseling Association, the PTA and the SPROUTS grant, all classrooms at Ward Stewart are equipped with recycling sorting bins, and the whole district will receive recycling pick up for an entire year.
The SPOURTS grant has also been responsible for the confidence course at Henderson Ward Stewart and the learning trail around the school that is currently in the works. Grant writer and teacher Tammy Gammill explained that the grant comprises five parts, and one of those is an environmental component, which fits in nicely with PTA’s recycling efforts.
The recycling participants at Ward Stewart are calling themselves the Green Team to match their goal of helping the community limit waste and making recycling a part of everyday life.
“We just want to teach the next generation about recycling,” said Leslie Fye, PTA parent and Green Team member. “We want to teach them to be responsible with our earth because we have been mindless (about recycling) for too long.”
Ward Stewart hosted a recycling kick-off event Friday, Sept. 10 to get the students excited about recycling.
The kick-off was a success because Gammill explained the custodial staff at Ward Stewart has already reported a significant decrease in the amount of trash collected from classroom cans.
Assistant Supt. Dr. Walter Gonsoulin took notice of the PTA’s recycling efforts and began to think of ways the entire district could get involved.
To start, each cafeteria in the district, along with the central office, will be recycling cardboard and aluminum cans.
Director of Child Nutrition Beverly Lowry felt the cafeterias were the perfect place to start making a difference as Sudduth alone breaks down roughly 40 boxes a day and goes through roughly 50 cans a day.
That means Sudduth has the potential to recycle 7,200 cardboard boxes during this school year. Multiply that throughout the district and the impact is profound.
This isn’t the first time the district has participated in recycling efforts. For years they have taken part in different small-scale recycling efforts, but this will be the first time the entire district is getting involved.
“It’s been sporadic for years with different types of recycling efforts,” Gonsoulin explained. “We wanted to do something that will become a part of the whole school environment.”
Ward Stewart is serving as the pilot for the individual classroom recycling. It is Gonsoulin’s hope that it will continue throughout the district with time.