Are you a staff lead for a school Green Team that could use some help to plan Green Team projects? Do you know a student group that wants to form a Green Team, but just hasn’t been able to get started? A King County Green Team specialist can help. Green Team specialists help get both big and small K-12 student projects off the ground.

A free Green Team planning workshop is the perfect way to organize the team and come up with an inspiring student action project to reduce waste in your school and community. The workshops are customized for your team’s needs and combine interactive learning with project planning. Green Team specialists will support your team along the way with phone or email check-ins, troubleshooting, and encouragement.

Teams across the county have successfully designed and carried out a wide variety of projects. Check out the list below and email Claire Mendelsohn or call her at 206-981-2240 to get started on one of these Green Team projects or your own unique one.

Top 10 Green Team project ideas

1.  Understand the current situation at your school regarding waste reduction and recycling.
2. Research, write, and deliver announcements encouraging participation at your school in green efforts. King County fact sheets are available to get you started on your research.
   • What waste reduction and recycling or other conservation-related actions are being done?
   • Who is supportive? Why?
   • Who is resistant? Why?
   • How many recycling bins are there? Where are they located? Are they next to garbage bins?
   • What signage is needed to help people know what to do?
   • What obstacles are there to accomplishing your green goals?
3.  Make posters.
   • Use actual items to make 3-D signs for what goes in the recycling and garbage bins.
   • Promote Green efforts and initiatives.
   • Recruit new members to the team.
   • List the top 5-10 reasons to waste less.
4.  Host a challenge. Design, promote, and track a competition or collaborative challenge to waste less.
5.  Create short, fun instructive videos on how to waste less and recycle more. Decide ahead of time who will see it, and how and when it will be played. A video of 2.5 minutes or shorter will have the best chance of sustaining a viewer’s attention.
6.  Plan a training for staff on the details of the school recycling program.
7.  Build, revitalize, or care for a school garden.
8.  Start a reuse art club or host a recycled fashion show.
9.  Organize a litter pick-up on your school grounds or in the community.
10.  Run lunchtime trivia games or contests that tests student knowledge of waste reduction and recycling issues.

Let us know which projects you chose and how they went!