Arthur H. McNeil Elementary: Mustangs make a difference! Arthur McNeil began recycling with Cartridges for Kids ® during the 2006-2007 school year. Since then, they have held a number of successful contests, projects, and drives, as well as instituted their very own Environmental Program, which utilizes a wide variety of special projects to teach their students and community the importance of taking care of our planet.

As a result of these efforts, Arthur McNeil has increased their earnings with CFK nearly fourteen times over in the past year. Krysti Peabody, the mastermind behind the Environmental Program, attributes the increase in funds to their unfaltering determination to make their program something spectacular. Every year they hold a Back to School contest, a Greener New Year contest in January, and a Project Earth Saver contest for Earth Day and Arbor Day in April when they put up their Recycling Tree and give a leaf to each student that brings in an item. Krysti sends fliers home with the students one month before, two weeks in, and right at the end of each contest to ensure they are at the forefront of parent’s minds. Weekly announcements are made, as well as posted in the school’s newsletter, to keep everyone updated on the status of their collection. But living green for this school is a multi-faceted effort; their collection with CFK is just one of the many ways they get their community excited about living green.

Aside from school-wide recycling, the first Wednesday of every month at Arthur McNeil is WasteLESS Wednesday. Every student makes an effort to generate as little waste as possible during lunch period by utilizing reusable and recyclable materials for their lunches. At the end of the period, the trash generated by each class is weighed, and the class with the least amount of trash gets a free recess. The first Friday of every month is recycled batteries day, when parents and members of the community can drop off their old batteries. In a campus greenhouse, they raise rescued saplings to plant around campus on their ‘BYOS’ (bring your own shovel) picnic event for Arbor Day. They also grow vegetables which are donated to a local food bank. Every year they hold an environmental poster contest, go on green field trips, and provide reusable shopping bags for their school’s families. Each week a student is chosen to be the Recycling Champion and is sworn in as the defender of all things green.

These are all important teaching tools to make tomorrow a greener day, but for Krysti, and Arthur H. McNeil, the most important part of learning to live green is to have fun! If kids see going green as something that is fun, creative and exciting, as well as important, they are more likely to talk to their parents, their friends, and even their children someday about the importance of the three R’s, recycle, reduce, reuse and most importantly, have fun with it! Congratulations Arthur H. McNeil and keep up the green work!