WastED - A Waste and Recycling Podcast by SWACO

Ring the School Bell!  Rethinking School & Classroom Sustainability

• Hanna Greer-Brown

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Sustainability in the classroom isn't just about recycling bins—it's about shaping the environmental leaders of tomorrow. As students and educators head back to school this August, we're diving into powerful ways schools can reduce waste while teaching lifelong environmental stewardship.

Our special guest Danna Lotz, SWACO's School Programs Administrator and former classroom teacher of nearly 20 years, shares with Hanna and Joe her passion and expertise for making sustainability accessible in educational settings. From practical tips for teachers (repurpose those half-used notebooks instead of sending them home!) to school-wide initiatives like food waste composting and e-waste recycling, Danna reveals how environmental responsibility can be woven into school culture.

Discover SWACO's impressive array of free resources for Franklin County schools: landfill tours with bus reimbursement, classroom recycling containers through the School Recycling Champions Program, curriculum-aligned lesson plans, and technical support for more complex waste diversion projects. The newly launched SWACO Schools Green Team creates a collaborative network where educators can exchange ideas and find moral support for their sustainability efforts.

Parents and caregivers aren't left out either! Learn practical strategies for greener lunches, supply shopping, and clothing choices that reduce waste while teaching children valuable lessons about resource conservation. As Danna reminds us, when we instill these habits early, young people don't just recycle because they're told to—they understand why it matters.   Visit SWACO.org to explore our school programs and start your sustainability journey today!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Waste Ed, a waste and recycling podcast by SWACO. Welcome to Episode 12 of Waste Ed, a podcast brought to you by SWACO. Joe, episode 12, that means we've been at this for a year.

Speaker 2:

See what started out as a joke actually turned into one year's worth of a podcast, and I want to thank you, hannah, for taking it and running with it, and this has been awesome. I really enjoyed doing this show with you.

Speaker 1:

It has been great fun. Joe, Thanks for the invitation to be your co-host. Well, I'm Hannah Greer-Brown, Director of Communications.

Speaker 2:

And I'm Joe Lombardi, the Executive Director at SWACO. And Hannah, it's August and I know you just returned from a long vacation and that means parents are jumping for joy, but kids not so much. Summer vacations are over and school is back this month. Hannah, do you have a favorite or not so favorite back to school memory?

Speaker 1:

I do. I really got excited, and maybe a little anxious, about finding out who my teacher was every year and who else was going to be in my class. So when I reflect on my time in school, that's something that kind of rises to the top. What about you, joe?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've got two, and one of them I'm going to be humble about, and I know my friends and my kids and everybody will make fun of me if they're listening. My not so favorite was I was in first grade and I cried every single day, and my sister who had to come from her classroom to my classroom to calm me down. My brother, on the other hand, told me to buck it up and get back in the class, but that's my not-so-favorite. I cried, but my favorite was always that senior year in high school or your eighth grade year, because you were on top of the world, only to know that the following journey you're going to be back down at the bottom again. So it's kind of a favorite and not so favorite. But yeah, those are my two memories.

Speaker 1:

I love that. Thanks for sharing those, joe. Well, here at SWACO we loved back to school because it means school groups return for field trips and it's our chance to show them everything we do to reduce, reuse and recycle. Our guest today is Dana Lotz, our school's program administrator. Welcome, dana. Thank you, joe and Hannah for having me on today. So we've got to kick things off by asking you the same question Do you have a favorite or not-so-favorite back-to-school memory?

Speaker 3:

Oh gosh, I had to think a lot last night because I have so many. But one of my earliest memories I have two older brothers and so they would be waiting for the bus and my mom would buy me a little backpack and I'd stand out there waiting for the bus and then the bus would go off and I would be like I want to go to school and I'd be so sad. I couldn't wait to ride the bus and go to school. So just riding the bus in general was one of my favorite memories. So I guess I always loved school from the beginning, which is why I became a teacher.

Speaker 3:

I taught for almost 20 years in public education and I have lots of great first day memories as a teacher. Of course, I was nervous as well on that end, but I was also really stressed because going back to school means decorating your classroom and making it themey and cutesy and inviting for my new students. Each year Some teachers would go all out with new posters and bulletin boards, lights, furniture and cute sayings that match their theme. But many years I didn't have a theme. Others I did, but it reminded me of how important it is for teachers to think sustainably as they go back to school this year. The most important thing is that we welcome students and they feel safe at school.

Speaker 3:

We don't have to get rid of the themes and cute decorations, but here I have some ideas to help teachers especially new teachers or those that have moved schools or switched grades to implement a few sustainable practices. They can do things like buy used books for your classroom libraries instead of brand new. Repurpose half-used notebooks from the year before instead of sending them home with students and let them decorate them. You can reuse school supplies from the year before instead of buying all new. I even use cereal boxes for individual book boxes and the kids would love making their own book boxes. You can cover containers in cute paper. Start a school spirit wear swap so that students can donate their old spirit wear for new or younger students to enjoy. Use a table in the hall to swap furniture and supplies with other teachers. Save space on the walls for student art and classwork. There's no need to cover everything with store-bought materials and you can start a back-to-school clothing swap.

Speaker 1:

Dana. So many great tips there for teachers and educators. Thanks for sharing those.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and Dana, as you know, my son is a third grade teacher and I'm sure he's asking the veterans how to get his classroom set up. So we have so much to talk about here at SWACO when it comes to the programs that you lead, dana, and why don't we begin with just our school tour and field trips, which I again think is second to none in, if not in Ohio, maybe in the Midwest, and you know? Tell us a little bit about them, like, how long does a tour last? Is it just for K through 12? And we even offer bus reimbursement, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, absolutely. First of all, I came on the tour with my own students for about 12 years, so I have absolutely loved the landfill tour and I agree it's one of the best field trips out there. We have an amazing education specialist, kim Chapman, that leads all of our tours and we work closely together on all things that involve schools. The landfill tour is valuable for students because it allows them to learn about waste produced here and why it's important to reduce, reuse and recycle. We do support students from pre-K all the way through 12th grade and even college, and Kim does a fabulous job at accommodating different ages. And we absolutely do reimburse for schools. In Franklin County they can get up to $220 per bus trip for all schools and there are more detailed instructions on that on our website.

Speaker 1:

And for schools and teachers and educators who want to go beyond just bringing their classes out to the landfill for a tour, talk a little bit about our School Recycling Champions Program and what that offers a school who wants to be sustainable.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the School Recycling Champion Program offers free indoor recycling containers for any school in Franklin County. Free indoor recycling containers for any school in Franklin County. Along with the containers, we provide guided support and educational resources for staff and students to implement a successful recycling program. Any school in Franklin County can apply to be a school recycling champion on our webpage, as long as they have recycling pickup service in place. At the end of the program we formally recognize the school's effort with a certificate, a banner and a photo opportunity so that we can celebrate their hard work and the positive impact they are making towards waste reduction and is a part of that program, offering lesson plans and activities to teachers.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. We make sure that we provide lesson plans, student activities related to waste diversion topics. We offer things such as reducing, reusing and recycling a variety of materials, different things like landfill engineering. We even can teach about methane gas causes, effects and how we collect it, and much more. We have a lot of these resources on our school webpage already, and I'll be working on developing even more resources in the future. Teachers can invite SWACO into their classrooms for lessons as well, and we also have activities for those that homeschool on our at-home activities page under schools. How?

Speaker 2:

fun, and those of us that work with Dana know she is constantly looking for new and improved ways to make this school champions program second to none and we thank you for those efforts, Dana. On every episode we like to talk about composting and how can schools get more involved with composting food scraps? I'm sure there's a few food scraps at schools.

Speaker 3:

Just a few, and they mostly end up in the trash. So that's why we really want to teach schools how to compost and teach kids the importance of why we need to save all those nutrients. So schools can get involved by teaching students about the valuable nutrients in food and why it's important to compost. We offer lesson plans on composting and vermicomposting, which is with worms, which kids love. Teachers can start their own compost bin in their school garden or do vermicomposting inside their classroom. Second schools can pay a food scrap hauler to pick up their food scraps to be turned into compost, and we have information on our website about those haulers. And then there are other large-scale options that some schools or districts are looking into, but it will take some more planning and manpower for something like that.

Speaker 2:

And we also help schools with e-waste things like cell phones, tablets, computers, tvs, keyboards. How does this diversion program work for schools?

Speaker 3:

So a lot of what I do is technical support. Schools can reach out to me with a lot of questions and different materials that they might have that they need to get rid of. So schools can opt into SWACO's contract for their e-waste recycling needs. This allows them to get our best pricing, our terms and certified vendor services without doing the legwork themselves, and if they want more information, they can always email me or go to our school's e-waste page.

Speaker 1:

You've also started something new called Swaco Schools Green Team. Tell me a little bit about that.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, this is a network where anyone working with students on sustainability can join us, but we're really going to be focused mainly on topics like waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting. In schools, teachers are especially crunched for time, so this will be a space where educators can lean on each other for support, ideas, resources and much more. We're going to meet virtually once a quarter and all you have to do is fill out a form on our SWACO Green Team page for schools, and I'm very excited for the new connections that we've already made and to see how we can all work together on our sustainable goals.

Speaker 1:

So let's say we have a teacher, a student or even an administrator listening to this episode and their school is not super focused currently on its reuse and recycling programs. How can we help them start one?

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. First of all, they can go to our website and check out all of our amazing resources, and then they can also email me at schools at SWACOorg with any questions. They can utilize our free resources. They can apply to be a school recycling champion if they need indoor recycling containers.

Speaker 1:

And what about our grants program? Do we offer anything for?

Speaker 3:

schools. So besides the free funding for containers, schools can also apply for our community waste reduction grant. If they have other ideas on ways to reduce waste, they can propose projects and we can address unique waste reduction, diversion, recycling and composting needs of their school.

Speaker 1:

Can you think of an example of a school that you've worked with recently where they stood up a program and you watched it grow and really affect change quickly?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, this last fall. Actually, I worked with Bluffsview Elementary in Worthington City Schools and one of their teachers applied to be in the School Recycling Champion Program. They have an absolutely amazing principal and two fourth grade teachers actually started to lead a green team of students to help with encouraging the rest of the school to recycle right, as well as help collect the classroom recycling for the custodial staff. Now their entire school district is going through the School Recycling Champion Program to get free containers and improve their recycling rates. The staff has been able to work together and involve students to show just how successful a recycling program can be when you work together. They have around 20 schools with nearly 11,000 students. Their goal is for students to build recycling into their daily habits at school and carry it over to home.

Speaker 2:

And that is an example of why our school program is so robust and we're always so excited to recruit new recyclers and reusers. But we know that good habits, like recycling, start and continue for a lifetime. For example, there's research that shows more than 70% of baby boomers recycle, which sort of doesn't surprise me, because the baby boomers were very active when they were young, whether it was trying to make a world a better place for people to live. And that number is lower, though, for millennials and Gen Zers. But with programs you lead here, dana, we want the next generation of young people to recycle more than their parents and grandparents. How are we doing that? How are you promoting that? Because you know you've heard me say I want to get out to the schools, I want to get to our young people. That's the next generation coming up, and if they're anything like my kids were, they'll shame you into doing things, or at least shame you, because what you wear outside, right, dad? Why are you wearing that Right? So explain how you're teaching these young people.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. It starts when they're young. We have to instill good habits, to teach kids about why right they want to know why it's important to reduce consumption, why it's important to reuse items as long as possible and recycle when it's an option. If we teach them young, they will think critically and we want them to be resourceful. We don't want them to be resourceful because it's not cool, right, because they can't afford it. We want them to be resourceful because it's good for the environment and it's the right thing to do. We will instill lifelong habits that they won't think twice about. We've gotten away from being resourceful like the baby boomers, but I think it's coming back. People are taking it more seriously and they're even watching things on social media, right, and they're seeing these influencers bring more awareness to these topics. So I think it is going to come back.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that kind of flipped. That last question Young people and I'm talking mostly that millennial group are very concerned about sustainable packaging. Nearly 80% of them say they look for sustainable options. So is it safe to say sustainable trends are heading in the right direction with young people overall?

Speaker 3:

I think, so I'm very hopeful Again. I think they're seeing it become more popular on social media, influencers starting to show how you can reuse and reduce things and why it's cool and why it's important for the environment as well.

Speaker 1:

So, dana, we've given a lot of really useful information for teachers and administrators who want to go green, but what about families who are, and caregivers who are listening to this podcast? Are there things they can do to get ready for a greener school year?

Speaker 3:

Yes, they can do things like reuse backpacks from the year before. I know my daughter likes to have new ones every year, but we can wash them and, you know, get a new one later in the year when that one's kind of falling apart. We can reuse lunch boxes and even school supplies. Right, maybe they get a new pencil box, but they don't get all new supplies inside, or vice versa. They can also shop for secondhand clothes at consignment shops or thrift stores.

Speaker 1:

That's great. Thanks for sharing those.

Speaker 2:

And Dana. Thank you for those tips. But when we're packing lunches as parents, how can we do sustainable lunches for our children?

Speaker 3:

I think it's very important that we buy in bulk and we use reusable containers, reusable Ziploc bags. I know they make resealable items now and lots of cool you know bento boxes and things like that. The kids actually think it's a lot of fun to pack their little snacks in different containers. So I think we have great options there to reuse instead of single use.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I know when I was in school. I must have been a shared table guy early on, because growing up in an all-Italian family, I had salami sandwiches and I always traded them for peanut butter jelly, because I really didn't get a whole lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in my lunchbox.

Speaker 1:

Yes Well, joe, you bring up a really good point, and, dana, you might identify with this. I'm still packing lunches for school age kids and I know early in the year it's really hard to predict how much they're going to be able to eat, and so one of the tips I like to give out to people to help curb food waste is to have kids bring home whatever they don't eat from their lunchbox so that you can monitor and kind of right size the lunch so that we're not contributing to waste. And so I don't know, have you ever tried anything like that with your kids?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's a great tip. I know a lot of students will end up trying to throw their food away and their parents won't know, so I think that's a great tip for parents to, yeah, have them bring it home, you know, don't scrutinize them for what they didn't eat just so you can figure out how much they need each day.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us, dana, and for your efforts every month not just when school is in session and to our listeners. If you'd like to know more about what we do, visit our website anytime at SWACOorg.