Press Release: Keene Middle School Students Review City Recycling Rules

June 5, 2020

Seventh graders from Keene Middle School learned the rules of recycling in their city via classroom workshops on May 28 & 29.  About 40 students from two KMS Extensions Program Focused Study Group classes participated in Keene Recycling workshops conducted by Education Manager Heather Herring of Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA).  NRRA's School Recycling Club (The Club) provides recycling education and outreach to K-12 schools.

Since students are set up for learning from home, The Club was able to engage classes virtually, using Google Meet.  The students composed questions in advance about recycling at the Keene Recycling Center.  Ms. Herring reviewed the questions for discussion the following day.  Students were also able to ask live questions during the discussion.

Questions included:

  • How much waste goes to the landfill? (37,000 tons to Rochester, NH in 2019)
  • How much is recycled? (7,000 tons in 2019)
  • Where do Keene's plastics go? (Michigan where they are pelletized for reuse)
  • How can we make high pollution countries recycle more? (Supply and demand start at home by purchasing from responsible companies and stop buying from polluters)

In addition to virtual workshops, The Club has posted a series of nine FREE weekly Recycling Lessons as part of their SHIP (Supporting Home Instruction Program).  Though our SHIP is docked for now, parents and teachers are invited to access the lessons on The Club's Resources page.

Special thanks to Extensions Program Teacher Betsy Stacey for setting up these workshops, to Keene Middle School Principal Deanna Zilske for her support and to staff from the Keene Recycling Center.

Thanks to funding provided by the Joint Procurement Initiative between the City of Keene and the Keene School District, these workshops were free to the school.

 

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