Eco-Corner News... What A Glorious Earth Day It Was !!!
Many, many thanks to all the Hillcrest folks for coming out in such force last weekend to help us beautify our campus! Pathways were made and
revamped, weeds were pulled, natives were planted, mulch was spread, an apple orchard was planted and sunshine surrounded our efforts through-
out the day. The fervor for helping out, caring and the endless energy shown by the Hillcrest community never ceases to amaze me. You are all passing on such a gift to your children; the passion for what you believe in and the mentality that together we can work to accomplish anything that is important to us.
Please take a moment to walk the hillside and admire all the fruits of the labor. Spring is here and as always, we have much to celebrate!
A special thanks to all our environmental stewards who helped out on Earth Day.
Mark Kramer
Cary & Henry Littell
Danielle King
Kelly & Thurston Morrison
Pia Funes-Bakker
Luis Bakker
Sarah, Matt, Doran, Audrey Cambell
Katie Hurt
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David and Tristan Earp
Patricia Remch
Brian Porat
Phil & Charlie Longenecker
Diane, Wayne & Jacob Diamond
Michael & Zev Black
Andy Packer
Lin & Noah Cheyer
Leah Korican
Ava Korican-Barlay
Linda and Julliet Bornholdt
Ted and Tristan West
Lissa & Reagan Hines
Shirley Rhee
Per & Axel Ljung
Barb Murrer
Ryan, Cara, Miles & Logan Brockbank
Ken, Ryan & Cole Dupee
Nancy Scanlon
Katie, Lucas & William Binder
Mike & Walker Blake
Pouneh & Neela Trockle
Joohee Hong
Helgi Adalsteinsson
Ingi & Hum Helgason
Kristin Beltran
Plastic, Plastic Everywhere.....
We've been working together all year with the students in Ecoliteracy to review the 4 R's. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.
Last Friday, 30 families contributed their plastic waste for the week so that we could evaluate how much plastic
that would generate and what to do with it all.
Many thanks to the 5th graders in Ms. Freschl/Bahr's class for helping us sort the plastics in two piles; that which could be recycled and
that which ends up in the landfill. Many students were seen holding up the plastic containers looking hard for the triangular symbol which
usually has the numbers 1-7 printed in it. The good news is that the majority of the plastics that were piled high could be recycled. We made a banner with the non-recycled, landfill plastics that said "Choose To Reduce". As the students know, this is the most important R of all.
Here are some facts that the students learned. Perhaps they will be of interest to you as well.
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* Only 30% of all material that can be recycled gets to a recycling center in the U.S. Yikes!
* Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space. To give you an idea of what that means, the back of a small pick up truck
holds about 1 cubic yard.
* When in question about if a product can be recycled or not, put it in the Recycling Bin. No one picks through the landfill to remove recycling.
* What do you do with these super common household items?
Newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags, bread bags, produce bags, toilet paper, napkin and papertowel packaging wrap, plastic cereal box liners,
case wrap that if often around snacks and waterbottles, plastic bags from stores
Bag up all the above plastics and drop off at a grocery store which recycles all #2/#4 plastics. They need to be clean and dry.
Hillcrest students are trying to make a difference by choosing to practice the 4 R's. Thank you parents for supporting and modeling good environmental choices along the way. Kids know they can make a difference. Just ask them, they will tell you.
Thanks again for your plastics contribution and great kids.
Nancy, Cara and Katie
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