Here are a few examples of what King County Green Schools Program participants are doing this fall to engage students and staff members in conservation practices.

• The Green Team at Lake Wilderness Elementary School (Tahoma School District) is meeting on a weekly basis and has already created educational posters, delivered a PowerPoint presentation, and shared morning announcements to remind students and staff about waste reduction, recycling, and energy and water conservation practices. They also started a classroom planting project to help students learn about local food and the science of gardening.
•  The Green Team at Mount Si High School (Snoqualmie Valley School District) conducted a lunchtime waste sort to find opportunities to waste less. All students placed their lunchtime discards on tarps and the student Green Team divided the materials into food scraps, recyclable materials, and garbage. The data showed that sorting unwanted lunch items properly would result in 50 percent less garbage by volume going to the landfill. The Green Team plans to use this data to advocate for collection of recyclable and compostable materials in the cafeteria.
• Park Orchard Elementary School (Kent School District) began recycling during school breakfast and went from averaging 128 gallons of breakfast trash to less than 10 gallons of trash and only about 44-60 gallons of recyclable materials, which demonstrates success in overall waste reduction as well as diversion from the landfill.
• Secondary Academy for Success (Northshore School District) this year continued its culture of sustainability by focusing the second day of school entirely on environmental awareness. During an all-school scavenger hunt, students looked for environmentally friendly elements and conservation practices throughout the school building. Every student was given a reusable aluminum water bottle and taught how to reduce waste and properly sort materials into garbage and recycling bins.