The students in Becky Bickford”s 4-year-old pre-kindergarten class at Emerson Family School could hardly contain their excitement Friday morning when members of the Green Starkville organization introduced the Starkville School District”s first comprehensive recycling program.
A small-scale recycling program already is in place at Overstreet Elementary, but Green Starkville members Nisreen Cain, Nick DiColandrea and Jessica Tegt went from class to class Friday at Emerson to drop off recycling bins and talk to students about the benefits of recycling.
“You”re going to be setting an example for the big kids,” Tegt told Bickford”s class.
Emerson Parent Teacher Organization members Alicia Wood Jones and Alison Buehler have pushed for recycling at Emerson since March 2009. The school received bins from BluBox, a division of Columbus-based Triangle Maintenance Service, to allow students to recycle in every classroom, the cafeteria and throughout the Families First Resource Center.
Students will be able to recycle everything from paper and cardboard to milk cartons and tin cans.
“Of course we know recycling is tremendously important for our environment, but, in addition to that, we know it is really critical to start teaching children from a younger age to get those habits in place,” Emerson Principal Dr. Joan Butler said.
“It”s exciting to be able to be the first school in the school district to (recycle) comprehensively,” Buehler said.
The program at Emerson is the latest in a city-wide movement to recycle and encourage residents to live more sustainable lives.
The city established the first free curbside recycling pickup program in the state last year. Recycling programs also have been initiated in city and county buildings, and on the Mississippi State University campus.
Grassroots organizations like Starkville In Motion and Green Starkville have urged residents to ride bicycles or walk to destinations instead of driving automobiles, and the city”s Board of Aldermen has approved a number of bicycle lanes and multi-use paths in recent years.
The city even passed a sustainability policy which, among other things, requires all new city buildings more than 3,000 square feet to meet efficiency standards set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design accreditation program.
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