Each year, the Good Sports Always Recycle review committee honors schools that are going green by recycling and collecting rainwater and composting and maintaining native garden beds.
This year, Bryker Woods and Summitt elementary schools were named the winners of the 2011 Good Sports Always Recycle Award for their outstanding campus recycling, conservation and beautification initiatives. Winning schools received $500 to improve their campus environmental efforts and were recognized on the field at the Texas vs. Kansas State Game Nov. 19.
In addition, Fulmore Middle School received the 2011 Coca-Cola Recycle Rookie Award and $250 cash prize and Doss Elementary School received an honorable mention for their outstanding campus environmental efforts. As an honorable mention winner, Texas School for the Deaf will receive a Pizza Hut pizza party.
What sets this year's Good Sports Always Recycle winners apart is how they are going beyond the basics and coming up with creative ways to go green:
Bryker Woods Elementary School
- After winning five times in a row, Bryker Woods has made going green a way of life on campus. From recycling plastic bottles, coffee bags and glue sticks to composting in the cafeteria and in every classroom, they reduce and recycle their waste for a cleaner, greener campus. They even have a garden and 2,500 rain barrel. Bicycling is an activity many students take part in through the Boltage Move-to-School program where students are encouraged to bike to school, track their distance and park their bikes on the 50% more available bike racks. Now there are also year round bike trains that make getting to school that much more lean and green.
Summitt Elementary School
- Summitt continues to shine with sustainability year after year. Just last year, the Summit Earth Team was born, an after-school club for 4th & 5th graders. The Earth Team is not only working on reducing paper towel waste, they are also planning a No-Idling campaign. These eagles also have their very own household battery collection program, a plastic shopping bag recycling drive, Styrofoam recycling and a new annual 4th grade Wildflower Planting Project to beautify the campus.
Fulmore Middle School
- Fulmore is rising to the eco-occasion. In May of this year they built their very own garden and did an overhaul on the campus through a natural habitat installation. The PALS (Peer Assistance and Leadership group) continue to gain momentum and boasts 22 student members that engage in regular leadership training activities, participation in service projects and managing the garden. The Fulmore Falcons have expanded their recycling from cardboard, paper and plastic – to now recycle aluminum, batteries, ink and other materials.
The Good Sports Always Recycle is an initiative of the Longhorn Recycling Roundup and is sponsored by Allied Waste, Austin Coca-Cola, H-E-B, Fox-7 KTBC, Longhorn Sports Network, and The University of Texas. Learn more about this initiative >