Our PROGRESS, so far...
Pumpkin Compost Drive rolls beyond BW Elementary!
Novella Marble, 4th grader at Bryker Woods Elementary, combined our annual "Trick-or-Treating for Unicef" campaign and our 3rd annual Pumpkin Composting Drive. By asking for a suggested donation of $1 for each pumpkin collected and composted at our school, she raised $60 and composted 25 pumpkins from her neighborhood!
In addition to this unique project, we inspired Pease, Zilker and Barton Creek elementary schools to launch first pumpkin compost drives!
In addition to this unique project, we inspired Pease, Zilker and Barton Creek elementary schools to launch first pumpkin compost drives!
Bryker Woods Elementary is a RECOGNIZED Leader for Going Green
 Pictured here on the UT Football jumbotron are 6th grade teacher Matthew Nelson, Principal Hobbs and 6th graders Samantha Harwood and Griffin Garbutt, who accepted our 4th KAB Award at the 11/2010 game.
Being a recognized leader has helped leaders from other schools connect with us for inspiration and practical advice on going green.
| Accolades! Our school is fortunate enough to have volunteers who not only help us "go green" but also write award applications! Here is some of the recognition we've received:
|
Running the numbers...
On auto emissions, healthy lungs and hearts:
Since celebrating Walk-to-School month each October since 2008 and the 2010 launch of our Boltage program, more Bryker Woods students are improving air quality and their health by ditching the car ride to school. Our online tracking system from our Boltage meter (located in front of the school) shows that 16% of our students are MOVIN' IT by walking, biking and scootering to school at least 5 times a month (and qualify for a monthly drawing).
Key Boltage Stats since program launched in October:
Keep on moving Panthers!
For families that must rely on cars to pick-up and drop off students, we respect the school as an idle-free school zone. Not only does turning off our cars improve the air in the immediate surroundings, and it also reduces the formation of ground-level ozone—the biggest air quality problem in Central Texas. Roughly half of the pollution sources that lead to ground level ozone come from vehicles.
Key Boltage Stats since program launched in October:
- 172 Panthers registered online for Boltage.
- Completed 5,097 round trips
- Walked or biked 10,460 miles
- Burned over 125,000 calories
- Saved over 5.75 tons of CO2 (Go Green!)
- Kicked off Boltage program in October with Bike Rodeo. Over 250 kids brought their bike to school.
- Installed Boltage Zapper by the school entrance to track participation.
- Bike Path built connecting Shoal Creek Trail to Bryker Woods providing a safer route for bikers and walkers.
- Boltage Rewards Program: Rewarding panthers for biking or walking to school.
- Bike Fit Fridays (Jan-Mar 2011)
- Friday Neighborhood Bike Trains (Apr-May 2011)
- The City of Austin's April Challenge: BOW/WOW (Bike on Wednesdays/Walk on Wednesdays)
- Bike to School Day on May 5, 2011
- 4-way Neighborhood Bike Challenge in May – Congratulations Rosedale!
- New Bike Racks! Thank you City of Austin for 50% more bike racks all around the school! We now have room for 60 bikes!
Keep on moving Panthers!
For families that must rely on cars to pick-up and drop off students, we respect the school as an idle-free school zone. Not only does turning off our cars improve the air in the immediate surroundings, and it also reduces the formation of ground-level ozone—the biggest air quality problem in Central Texas. Roughly half of the pollution sources that lead to ground level ozone come from vehicles.
On food waste and paper waste:
Mr. Dukes helps to compost our cafeteria waste.
Since replacing disposable trays with re-usable trays in the spring of 2009 and composting daily our food and paper waste in the fall of 2010, our school has reduced garbage heading to the landfill from 17 bags to just three bags each day. For two years beginning in the fall of 2008, our PTA volunteers began collecting waste from the cafeteria on Fridays to compost in our campus bins. In August 2010, local composting services (first Organics by Gosh and later Texas Disposal Systems, the new district vendor) began collecting ALL food and paper waste, including gelatin desserts, pudding, meat, milk and milk cartons. Our school composts between 12% and 100% more waste (1,565 lbs in May) than we recycle, making an enormous step toward the city's zero-waste goals.
After several years of recycling 30 tons of paper annually (and earning $) through Abitibi, the school district contracted Texas Disposal Systems to collect paper, certain plastics and metals, with single-stream recycling! Since January, we have diverted between 758 and 1,380 pounds PER MONTH from the landfill through recycling.
Students can see how many pounds our school, and other district schools, are recycling and composting at TDS' Green School Solutions website.
After several years of recycling 30 tons of paper annually (and earning $) through Abitibi, the school district contracted Texas Disposal Systems to collect paper, certain plastics and metals, with single-stream recycling! Since January, we have diverted between 758 and 1,380 pounds PER MONTH from the landfill through recycling.
Students can see how many pounds our school, and other district schools, are recycling and composting at TDS' Green School Solutions website.
On lunchbox disposables:
As of February 2011, we have sent more than 4,200 Capri Sun Juice pouches and 123 Kashi product boxes to Terracycle for upcycling into bags and other products and generating $54.52 for our school.
On wallet waste:
As of December 2010, we have sent 13 pounds or 1,300 gift cards and other plastic wallet waste to Earthworks for recycling. Anyone can send them plastic gift cards for recycling, but Earthworks would appreciate that we pass the word along to our favorite stores and hotels to contact them to learn how to recycle their cards and even purchase cards made from Earthworks 100% recycled plastic.
On paper towel waste:
Through our "Just Take 2" paper towel reduction initiative, we purchase 900 fewer pounds of paper towels each year than we did in the 2008-2009 school year.
On Styrofoam packaging:
Cycled Plastics recycles our Styrofoam.
Our Styrofoam recycling drives after the 2008-2011 winter holidays have diverted 8 vanloads of Styrofoam from the landfill. The next collection is January 2013.
On hazardous waste:
As a result of our TechnoTrash drive on Earth Day, our school collected 140 pounds of electronic waste for GreenDisk in 2009 and even more with in 2010 and 2011 through M&K Recovery Group to repurpose and recycle. The next collection is April 22, 2012. Click here to learn what e-waste we can accept.
Batteries are collected year-round in our PTA recycling cabinet in the lobby. Since the fall of 2010 school year, we've collected more than 100 pounds of batteries for proper disposal with the City. For information about where to take dozens of types of hazardous waste, such as motor oil, paint and compact fluorescent lightbulbs, visit austinrecycles.com.
Batteries are collected year-round in our PTA recycling cabinet in the lobby. Since the fall of 2010 school year, we've collected more than 100 pounds of batteries for proper disposal with the City. For information about where to take dozens of types of hazardous waste, such as motor oil, paint and compact fluorescent lightbulbs, visit austinrecycles.com.
On clothing:
Since 2009, our annual Swap-o-RAMA creative clothing swap with other central Austin schools has reduced the need for newly manufactured clothing and created excitement among our students for re-using and re-purposing clothing. In conjunction with the 2010 & 2011 swaps, our Nike Reuse-a-Shoe Recycling Drive collected 120 pairs of un-usable athletic shoes that were turned into athletic surfaces. View photos from past swaps, and email Shelly if you don't know our universal password.
On trophies!
At the end of school 2011, we introduced our trophy recycling drive to help clear off those shelves for... more trophies! We collected 25 trophies for re-use/recycling at Lone Star Awards, which accepts donations year-round at 5201 N. Lamar.
On energy:
Our solar electric system perched above the school gardens.
Since installing a 1.2 kilowatt solar electric system in 2003, each year Bryker Woods replaces the amount of electricity we'd use from a coal-fired power plant with 1,400 Kilowatt Hours of energy generated by the sun, enough to power one classroom. Learn more about Bryker Woods' solar power at Soltrex.com. Find our school by clicking on the "Explore Systems" link and scrolling down the alphabetical listing to find our school.
On water:
We conserve water by collecting rainwater in this 2,500 barrel for use in our school gardens.
Stay tuned for more information about Worm Composting in our classrooms and our Outdoor Classroom on the banks of Shoal Creek!
