Rowan students create recycling program

May 20—MOREHEAD — School recycling can inspire students to care about the planet, to examine the resources that we use to make our world sustainable, to look at the consequences of using resources and generating pollution and waste. Schools help to shape the habits that we continue as adults.

In January, Rowan County Middle School students Ava Carver, Annamarie Schroeder, Elizabeth Bailey, Ella Jenkins, and Gwenna Crowder created a recycling program as part of a class project for teacher Genny Jenkins. There are 50 students in Jenkins' project class for gifted students who are tasked with choosing a project to take from conceptual thoughts to creation and on to execution.

These five students saw a need for recycling of paper, cardboard and plastic in the classrooms at their school and devised a plan for handling it. Their initial design utilized upcycled cardboard boxes in each classroom for recycling bins. Though the boxes serve their purpose, they encountered several issues.

First, they take up too much space and they are not durable. Each time a box is damaged or disappears they have to take time out of their fifth period class to make new ones. This process is time consuming and costs money to keep supplying day in and day out. Another issue is that the boxes blend in, and members of the school do not know they are recycling bins. In spite of these issues, the program has been very successful. On average they collect 120 pounds of paper each week. In trying to encourage an eco-friendly environment at the Middle School they turned to the Morehead Optimist Club for help.

The students prepared and submitted to the Optimist Club a funding request for $800 to purchase actual recycling bins of varying sizes to be placed around the school.

"What a great opportunity for our Club to partner with a group of students for a project promoting environmental awareness," Bill Redwine, president of the Morehead Optimist Club, said. "These students are remarkable in that they have delved into a project with such global impact," he added.

Working with the Morehead Community Recycling Center, they have scheduled regular pick-up days of Tuesday and Thursday which gives students an opportunity to gather the recycled materials on Wednesday to be placed in a central spot for pick-up. The purchased recycling bins will be installed before the opening of school in August and will each bear a sticker denoting the support from the Morehead Optimist Club.

For more information, call (606) 356-0666 or visit moreheadoptimist.com.