2 Greenwich Schools Earn Recycling Foundation Grants

Two Greenwich schools have received the first grant awards from the RecycleCT Foundation for projects focused on recycling, waste reduction, reuse, or composting.

The Connecticut Forest & Park Association (CFPA) also received one of the 12 grants that total $21,000 for initiatives that strengthen environmental education centered on waste reduction.

“The 12 schools receiving grant funds stood out for their efforts to develop programs that integrated education with waste reduction and reuse or recovery of materials through composting and recycling,” Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Robert Klee said in a statement. “We are pleased that this first round of grants from our new foundation can make the connection between positive approaches to reducing the volume of waste and learning in the classroom.”

RecycleCT was created in an effort to raise public awareness and participation in recycling. The foundation will lead the way in implementing a key goal of the legislation: increasing the recycling diversion rate from the current level of about 25 to 30 percent to 60 percent by 2024. Klee is chairman of the Board of Directors of RecycleCT.

The RecycleCT Foundation is promoting the importance of recycling and encouraging people, government entities, schools, businesses, and organizations to adopt recycling as part of their everyday lives or operations. As one of its first efforts, the foundation launched a program of small grants for schools.

In this first round of grants to schools, nine of the recipient schools are part of the state’s GreenLeaf program.

The Greenwich schools receiving grants are:

• Parkway Elementary, Greenwich – $1,408; Composting, Worm Composting.
• Greenwich Academy, K-12, Greenwich – $1,000; Composting. This grant application and project were organized by Charlotte Winkler, a senior at the school.

The Greenleaf program is a partnership of state agencies and organizations, and environmental and educational groups who provide resources and guidance for schools to comply with federal and state laws and adopt voluntary programs that make their schools ‘greener’.

The GreenLeaf program is a free statewide initiative open to any public or private schools in Connecticut.

Photo credit: mjmonty via Flickr.com.