Easy Strategies to Green a School

The green movement goes beyond our homes. It has entered the realm of education, and administrators and school officials are looking for ways to go green in their schools.

Here are some strategies for greening a school.

1. Start a program at your child’s school.

This will accomplish the first step, which is raising awareness. Check with the appropriate school officials, and plan meetings on campus after school. Include members of the faculty at these meetings if possible. If it is not possible, then be sure to present your ideas to them periodically.

2. Approach school officials with well-planned ideas.

The better organized and specific your ideas are, the more likely they will be well received. Keep things simple at first.

3. Set up recycling bins in the cafeteria.

Make sure there is a plan in place to have the bins emptied and kept clean. Have bins for aluminum, plastic, paper, and glass.

4. Food waste can be put to good use in a compost or worm bin.

A good worm farm can break down waste quickly, and the school can sell or use the resulting compost. Schools do generate a great deal of food waste.

6. Use all that great compost to plant a school garden.

Imagine the health benefits of your school growing its own fresh food and serving it in the cafeteria. Your school could also sell its produce to the community or other schools.

7. Switch to natural cleaners.

Floors, desks, tables, walls, bathrooms, kitchens, etc. can all be cleaned with green cleaners. Students are surrounded by these items every day. Switching to natural cleaners is a good way to enact far-reaching improvements with simple effort.

8. Paper is another target area for the greening of your school.

Paper waste can be composted or recycled, but work to reduce the waste to begin with. Print on both sides of the paper, for example, and cut up waste paper into note-sized squares to be used again. The art teacher of your school may be able to create art projects out of used paper.

9. Plant trees wherever and whenever possible.

You could head up a field trip to plant trees in people’s yards in the community, at other schools, or wherever trees are needed.

10. The playground or recreation areas of so many schools tend to be concrete or asphalt.

This is not the green option! See about getting grass or vegetation-based play areas at your school. There may be an abandoned field nearby, or an area of cracked and damaged concrete that needs to be replaced. The field could be claimed for the school and the damaged concrete removed instead of replaced, making way for vegetation.

These are just some simple ways to help begin the process of greening your school.

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