Transcript Recycling - Minneapolis Public Schools

MPS IS G OING G REEN
P RESENTATION
C ONTENTS

Why should we recycle organics materials and
how is it done at MPS?

Why should we recycle mixed materials and
how is it done at MPS?

What are the benefits of energy efficiency and
how can we be energy efficient?
O RGANICS R ECYCLING
W HAT IS O RGANICS R ECYCLING ?

Recycling means turning trash into something
useful.

Organics recycling is the recycling of organic
material – anything that once was alive – into
compost, a special kind of dirt.

Composting happens naturally and requires very
little energy input.
W HY DO ORGANICS RECYCLING ?
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS
•
Organic matter can turn into compost (dirt or fertilizer), which supports
plant growth.
Organic scraps …
…become compost…
…that is used for planting.
•
So don’t throw it out!
W HY DO ORGANICS RECYCLING ?
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS

Pictures from the HERC incinerator,
MPR Photo/Stephanie Hemphill
Reduces Waste

Waste and what to do with it is a growing
problem. We send our waste to the HERC
incinerator

Each year in Hennepin County we generate
enough waste to fill the Metro Dome 11 times!

That’s about seven pounds of trash per person,
per day!

Between 11- 25% of our waste is compostable.

All of the organics recycling programs are
diverting 6-7 tons of trash to organics each month.
o
Our compost is being used in construction sites.
W HY DO ORGANICS RECYCLING ?
E DUCATIONAL B ENEFITS

Creates an educational opportunity for students.

Students can visit a composting site, to see how
works

Or students can create their own compost piles
as experiments to learn about the scientific
process or how decomposition works.

Cultivates thoughtful attitudes among students,
teachers and staff.

Fits into MN curriculum standards
W HY DO ORGANICS RECYCLING ?
E CONOMIC B ENEFITS

Hauling organic matter is cheaper than hauling
trash because of tax incentives and reduced
processing fees.

Organic matter is currently exempt from taxes.

Reduced pick-up frequency reduces our trash
hauling fee.
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING

MPS is working hard to make organics recycling
run smoothly.

MPS negotiated a resource management contract
with our waste hauler that:
o
Bundles waste, mixed recycling and organics
hauling
o
Calculates monthly recycling rates by building
o
Builds in a performance incentive for increasing
recycling and decreasing costs
o
MPS is one of the first Minnesota school districts to
so aggressively manage this expenditure
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING

Last year, only Burroughs and Lake HarrietUpper had an organics recycling program.

MPS received a grant from Hennepin County
during 2008-09 to pay for organics recycling startup costs, allowing more schools to participate.
o
This year, 21 schools are
participating
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING

MPS provides an organics coordinator handbook,
organics flyers and signs, a volunteer training
presentation and the materials necessary to start
the program.

MPS demonstrated how teaching about organics
recycling fits MN curriculum benchmarks to make
learning about organics relevant.

MPS posted curriculum resources to make
learning about organics easier.

MPS also created Green Reports for each school .
These give each buildings “carbon footprint”, and
can be used to see how buildings match-up.
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING

Participating schools must commit to the
program with:

An organics coordinator

A lunchroom orientation

Engaged students, and staff!
MPS
ORGANICS RECYCLING

Students, teaching staff, and building engineers
all play important roles in making organics
recycling successful.

Building engineers need to commit to picking up
the organics recycling and keeping it separate
from the waste.

Staff can explain how organics recycling works,
and give students opportunity to get more
involved with the program.

Students make the program work! Students can
help by monitoring the lunchroom stations,
making signs, and thinking of other creative ideas
like contests between lunchrooms
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING
PROCEDURES
At the end of each lunch period

Volunteers will supervise students as they move through the
recycling stations.

Students will pour liquids into buckets and put food scraps into
organics bins.
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING
PROCEDURES
Liquids Procedures:

Students will dump all liquids (from milk cartons, juice boxes, etc.)
into a bucket with a strainer that will remove any solids .

Engineers will flush liquid down the drains.

This process reduces the weight of garbage and saves money
when it is hauled away.
MPS O RGANICS R ECYCLING
PROCEDURES
Food Scraps Procedures:

Students will deposit food scraps and other compostables
(napkins, wax paper, milk cartons, etc.) into the green organics
barrel.

The bag is compostable (and expensive!). Please make sure it is full
before disposing of it.

Students will crush milk cartons to save space in the bags.
Lunch Trays Procedures:

The new paper lunch trays should be placed in the compost bin.
M IXED R ECYCLING
B EFORE R ECYCLING

Always remember REDUCING
comes first.

Recycling is better than throwing
away materials, but the products
still were made.

Creating anything, takes energy
and resources.

Energy and resources should be
conserved.

Check out how products were
made---How was this product
mined, logged, built?
W HAT IS M IXED R ECYCLING ?

Recycling means turning trash into something
useful.

Mixed recycling is the recycling of many different
types of plastics, metals and paper into new
products.

Allied Recycling picks up our mixed recyclables, in
a single stream, no sort process. Here is a video
showing how it works:
http://www.alliedwastetwincities.com/recyclebank-cycle.php
W HY DO MIXED RECYCLING ?
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS

Recycling turns what could be waste into useful
products.

At MPS, Allied Waste takes our mixed recycling
and sends it to mills, which turn plastics back into
plastic, paper back into paper, cardboard back
into cardboard and aluminum back into
aluminum!
W HY DO MIXED RECYCLING ?
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS

Recycling almost always saves energy.

Using recycled aluminum scrap to make new
aluminum cans uses 95% less energy than making
aluminum cans from bauxite ore, the raw
material used to make aluminum.

Recycled cans are typically back on the self in
two months.

The EPA found that recycling can reduce climate
change.
W HY DO MIXED RECYCLING ?
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS
Surface mining

Recycling means manufactures do not have to
mine virgin materials.

Mining can be very harmful to the environment,
and a very dangerous occupation.

Mining for Gold, which is used in many
electronics is particularly dangerous, and
harmful because gold is mainly found in
remote locations.

Extracting a single ounce of gold—the
amount in a typical wedding ring—requires
the removal of more than 250 tons of rock
and ore, even in model gold mines
W HY DO MIXED RECYCLING ?
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS

Pictures from the HERC incinerator,
MPR Photo/Stephanie Hemphill
Reduces Waste

Waste and what to do with it is a growing
problem. Each year in Hennepin County we
generate enough waste to fill the Metro Dome 11
times!

That’s about seven pounds of trash per person,
per day!

MPS waste is sent to the HERC incinerator
W HY DO MIXED RECYCLING ?
E DUCATIONAL B ENEFITS

Provides an opportunity to learn where products
come from and what happens to them after we
finish with them.

Provides an opportunity to think about our daily
actions. How do our actions affect the earth, and
how does what happens to earth affect us?

MPS also created Green Reports for each school .
These give each buildings carbon footprint, and can
be used to see how buildings match-up.

Fits into MN curriculum standards
MPS M IXED R ECYCLING
PROCEDURES


Place blue mixed recycling bins in convenient,
noticeable and busy areas.
•
Hallways
•
Classrooms
•
Cafeteria
Make sure recycling bins are not too full


So people aren’t forced to use the trash instead
of recycling.
Prominently display recycling signs and
information.
M IXED R ECYCLING
P ROCEDURES

Don’t forget your electronics can also be
recycled.

Electronics contain metal, which takes
tremendous amounts of energy to extract, and is
often done in dangerous and polluting ways.

Recycling electronics is a way to avoid those
problems, because the metal in electronics can
be re-used reducing the need to mine

Cell phones, and computers and often re-fitted
and given to people in need.
MPS M IXED R ECYCLING
PROCEDURES

Stop and think before you put something in the
trash.

Ask, “Can it be recycled?”
MPS M IXED R ECYCLING
PROCEDURES
 At MPS there is no sorting. All mixed recycled
materials go in blue recycling bins
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

What is Energy?

Energy is the ability to do work.

Energy heats homes, runs refrigerators, moves
cars, lights streets and allows you to run.

There are different forms of energy.
•
Renewable Energy is energy that can be made
quickly, like wind energy.
•
Non-Renewable Energy is energy that takes
millions of years to be made.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

Non-renewable energy sources are fossil fuels:
coal, natural oil, and gas.

Fossil Fuels are formed from the remains of dead
plants and animals in special processes that take
millions of years.

Fossil Fuels represent stored energy, stored
carbon, and stored toxins.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

MPS gets its electrical energy from Xcel Energy.

Xcel Energy uses a mix of non-renewable (80%)
and renewable energy (20%) sources to provide
electricity.

This mix includes nuclear, gas, hydo-power and
wind.

Xcel’s nuclear energy comes in part from the
Prairie Island nuclear power plant

Much of Xcel’s hydro-power comes from plants in
Canada.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

MPS gets its gas from Center Point.

Most of the Center Point’s gas (85-90%) comes
through pipelines from the Gulf of Mexico. The
remainder of the gas comes from Canada.

Gas runs to schools through pipes.

Center Point maintains a gas meter to gauge gas
usage.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

Much of the energy MPS is using comes from
fossil fuels.

Using fossil fuels releases stored carbon and
other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

As the amount of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere increases so does the temperature
of the earth.

This process is known as climate change.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

Climate change affects how we all will live.

On a warmer earth, icebergs will melt, raising sea
levels.


Do you know people who live by the ocean? Will
they have to move if the ocean rises?
Plants and animals have adapted to live in certain
climates. If climate change happens too quickly,
they may not survive.

What is your favorite animal? Do you think it will
survive?
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS

Burning fossil fuels releases toxins like sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, soot and mercury.

If we use less fuel by being energy efficient, we
will create less pollution.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS

Using less energy means that less energy has to
be made.

Making energy from non-renewable sources
involves mining for coal or drilling for oil.

Mining and drilling can be very harmful to the
environment.
Surface
mining
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E NVIRONMENTAL B ENEFITS


By using fewer fossil fuels, we can:

Stop or lessen climate change

Stop acid rain and soot production

Hennepin County is committed to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050
We can do this by being more EFFICIENT. This
means being smart and making the best choices
when using energy.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E DUCATIONAL B ENEFITS

Thinking about energy provides an opportunity
to learn where products come from and what
happens to them after we finish with them. It
also fits into MN curriculum standards.

Visit the EPA’s website for educational recycling
and energy games:


http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/kids/planetp
rotectors/index.htm
Visit the Energy Information Administration’s site
for more games and curriculum:

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=6
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E CONOMIC B ENEFITS

Being efficient with energy is good for plants,
animals and you. It also saves money!

Energy costs for heating , cooling and lighting are
very expensive. In most schools, energy costs
more than books and supplies. Only paying
salaries costs more.

MPS spends $15 million per year on energy costs.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
E CONOMIC B ENEFITS

Reducing energy use is a good way to save
money.

It is possible to save money on energy without
experiencing too much hardship because experts
estimate that up to 25% of energy used in
schools is wasted.


It is wasted through inefficiencies, like not
turning off lights, old heating and cooling
systems, and printing excessively.
We can fix this by being more efficient!
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
W HAT MPS IS D OING ?

MPS is taking steps to be energy efficient:

Upgraded more than 141 boilers, so they use less
energy to heat water

Preventive maintenance program to improve
heating and cooling efficiency

Retrofit systems using more energy efficient
technology while aggressively pursuing rebates to
offset the costs of the upgrades
E NERGY E FFICIENCY

More Steps the district is taking...

Working to improve monitoring systems to find
ways to reduce energy consumption even more.

Improving bus efficiency by retrofitting 40% of
MPS-owned diesel buses with special
recirculation valves to significantly reduce
emissions
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW

TO BE
E NERGY
EFFICIENT
Here are some simple ways you can reduce
energy use.

Lighting accounts for 50% of energy costs.

Turn off lights when they are not in use.

Open the blinds during the day to use natural
light.

Close the blinds at night to keep the room warm.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW

TO BE
E NERGY
EFFICIENT
Powering the monitor accounts for 50% of the
energy a computer uses.

Turn your computer monitor to “off” or “sleep”
when it is not in use.

Do NOT shut down any Mac Computers or
Windows computers in labs. IT services performs
updates on these computers after hours, and has
already programmed them to automatically go to
“sleep” mode.

Turn off printers, copiers and other office
equipment at the end of every day.

Turn off and unplug electronics and personal
appliances.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW
TO BE
E NERGY E FFICIENT

Use MPS Green Reports to find out every
building’s carbon footprint.

With this information, you can find out where
energy savings can be made.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW
TO BE
E NERGY E FFICIENT

Have fun with Green Reports!

You could: Have a contest to find out
whose more efficient middle-schoolers or
the elementary students?
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW
TO
B E E NERGY E FFICIENT

Water conservation is a part of energy savings
and efficiency.

Save water by:

Not letting water run

When washing your hands turn the water on to
wet them and then turn it off while soaping.

Reporting leaks to maintenance staff immediately

Maximizing natural cover in outdoor landscaping
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW
TO
B E E NERGY E FFICIENT

Energy efficiency improves our
environment and saves money.

Little steps and big steps both count.
E NERGY E FFICIENCY
H OW

TO
B E E NERGY E FFICIENT
It’s up to you!