The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Students recycle their way toward zero waste
10.05.2016 | Texas Athletics, Bleed Orange. Live Green.
Eastside Memorial H.S. receives honors for 2016 Zero Waste Champion, Green Flag Eco-School, and Bright Green Futures award.
AUSTIN, Texas -- Eastside Memorial High School is the 2016 Zero Waste Champions, an award presented by Keep Austin Beautiful in partnership with Texas Athletics and The University of Texas program Bleed Orange Live Green and Austin Resource Recovery. The award recognizes a local Austin school each year for outstanding efforts to reduce waste.
These eco-efforts are gaining attention. The school also is also being recognized as the first high school in Texas to be awarded the Eco-Schools USA Green Flag from the National Wildlife Federation and is a Bright Green Futures grant recipient. Eastside celebrated its many honors on Saturday, Oct. 1 when students raised the Eco-Schools USA green flag. After the flag raising, they led tours to highlight their accomplishments.
Thanks to the Bleed Orange Live Green partnership, the school receives a $500 cash prize and 22 tickets for students and their chaperones to attend the Texas Football vs. Iowa State game Saturday, Oct. 15, where they will enjoy pregame festivities and be recognized on the field during the game. Thanks to Texas Disposal Systems, students and administration also will have the opportunity to see waste diversion in action at the Texas Disposal Systems recycling, compost and landfill facilities in Creedmoor, Texas.
During the 2015-16 school year, Keep Austin Beautiful delivered the Generation Zero program, during which environmental systems students conducted a school-wide waste audit and learned about what items go (and do not go) into the blue single-stream recycling bins. The students learned about the economic aspects of resource management and the benefits of becoming zero waste.
Initial waste audits results indicated that 82% of what was in landfill bins was actually recyclable or compostable. Eastside Memorial High School's staff and students garnered the support of administration and conducted a school-wide education campaign. Environmental Systems students conducted bilingual recycling education throughout the school, Construction Tech students built 3D display boards to remind the school community about what was recyclable, Occupational Prep students picked up recycling bins from classrooms and put them in the recycling dumpsters, and teachers worked with the school districts and Austin Resource Recovery to provide more bins and introduce compost pickup at the school.
As a result of the educational efforts, recycling increased from an average of 3,200 pounds per month during the fall semester to more than 4,400 pounds per month in the spring semester. Eastside Memorial High School became the first high school in AISD to introduce composting, diverting more than 10,250 pounds of compost from the landfill once composting was introduced at the school in February 2016. These students are recycling and composting their way to zero waste!
Eastside Memorial's achievements illustrate what is possible when community partners -- Keep Austin Beautiful, National Wildlife Federation, Texas Disposal Systems, The University of Texas and various city agencies including the Watershed Protection Department and Austin Resource Recovery -- collaborate.
"Schools like Eastside Memorial are paving the road to zero waste and fostering the next generation of environmental leaders," said Keep Austin Beautiful Executive Director Rodney Ahart.
About Keep Austin Beautiful
Keep Austin Beautiful's mission is to provide resources and education to engage citizens in building more beautiful communities. The non-profit service organization's programs clean, beautify and protect the Austin environment through physical improvements to the local environment, community resources, and hands-on education. More than 26,500 people volunteer their time each year, committing 60,000 hours to cleaning and beautifying Austin, and environmental education is provided to 11,800 youth annually through Keep Austin Beautiful programs and events. For more information on Keep Austin Beautiful, visit KeepAustinBeautiful.org.
About Bleed Orange Live Green
Bleed Orange Live Green is a University of Texas and Texas Athletics program sponsored by BASF, Coca-Cola, Fox 7 Austin, Republic Services, and Texas Athletics to promote sustainability at Texas Athletics home events.
About Austin Resource Recovery
Austin Resource Recovery provides a wide range of services designed to transform waste into resources while keeping our community clean. Services include curbside collection of recycling, trash, yard trimmings and large brush and bulk items; street sweeping; dead animal collection; household hazardous waste disposal and recycling; and outreach and education. In December 2011, the Austin City Council approved the Austin Resource Recovery master plan, which is the city's roadmap to zero waste. The City of Austin is committed to reducing the amount of waste sent to area landfills by 90 percent by 2040 or sooner.
