Riverdale Elementary's recycling program get honourable mention in Jack Layton award

A small but dedicated group of grade 3 to 6 students at Riverview Elementary proved that small changes can make a big difference.

The group of 10 students collected, washed and prepared for recycling about 200 empty single-serve milk cartons each day, filling almost 100 large recycling bags in one school year.

And that difference was awarded recently when the 224-student school received an honourable mention in the Jack Layton Award for Youth Action in Sustainability contest, founded by the non-profit organization, Learning for a Sustainable Future.

“We’re proud that our students, who gave up their own time, were recognized this way,” said Riverview Principal Deborah Gross. “And we’re proud of the program, not only in terms of recycling but in terms of the leadership opportunities if gave to our students.”

She said the students also created a large visual display to inform the whole school community about the project and to challenge everyone to look at other ways to reduce garbage output.

Janice Young, along with fellow resource team member John Riley, put together the recycling program to collect and recycle all milk cartons after lunch after noticing that many milk cartons were being thrown in the garbage rather than recycled.

She said students at Riverview in Verdun are at it again this year.

“It’s incredible – the kids are doing the program pretty well on their own now, we’re more like supervisors,” she said adding that she hopes other schools will follow suit.

Kayle Picard-MacDonald, now a grade 4 student who took part in last year’s program and is continuing to do so this year, summed up her reasons for giving her time and energy to the milk carton recycling program.

“I love it because it helps the earth and we don’t want the earth to shut down,” she said. “And my mom is so proud of me.” (News Release from Lester B Pearson School Board)