Orchard Park has had a school-wide
recycling program in place for many years. Students collect paper and
chipboard, aluminum and plastic, and cardboard to be recycled through
the York Country Recycling Program. Students from individual classrooms
are responsible for bagging the items and taking the recyclable
materials outside to place in appropriate bins.
Our school received a DHEC 2015 Recycling Education Grant which
allowed us to purchase new bins (64 large and 64 small bins). The new
blue bins, that have the recycling symbol on the side, have made
recycling easier!
OPES observed America Recycles Day in November 2014. Students
educated our school about how, where, and what to recycle by creating a
recycling video to share on our morning news program. Students wore
green shirts that day and signed a pledge to recycle. A few lucky
students even received prizes donated by York County Recycling!
Additionally, students collected 44.2 pounds of aluminum pop tabs to be
given to the Ronald McDonald House in Charlotte. That is approximately
50,000 pop tabs! Environmental Club students also collected information
on the number of bags we recycled. From October 2014 to April 2015,
with 26 classrooms reporting, we collected 507 bags of paper and 302
bags of plastics.