GRHS senior, Ian Crawford developed a plan called Revamping Recycling that focus’s on reorganizing and revamping the recycling program at Glen Rock High School. Ian presented this to the Sustainable Jersey for Schools capacity-building grant funded by the PSEG Foundation. Ian had the only winning proposal in the $2,000 category from Bergen County, and the only one to be submitted by a student.
Ian was inspired by seeing that throughout middle school and High School how wasteful students were. Sylvia Rabbach, a member of the Glen Rock Environmental Committee, introduced him to this opportunity.
What does the Revamping Recycling plan entail?
Each classroom will have a standard set of two bins — one for all recyclables (stream recycling) and one for waste.
– Right now the classrooms have different numbers of bins and lack consistency.
After that, we would talk to the custodians to find out their current recycling procedures.
Education:
- A comprehensive guideline on how to recycling at home and at school will be posted throughout the hallways.
- Assemblies or in their science classes.
Looking at the future of his program, Ian hopes that by next school year students will be recycling properly and that we can greatly reduce the amount of uneccesary waste we still create. And if the cafeteria is urged to offer healthier options, like a wider and better quality variety of fruits and vegetables, then we will be able to compost much more of what we eat.
He also hopes that other students will follow in his footsteps as far as applying for grants goes and in that way the school can move towards being more sustainable and maintain it’s certification as a Sustainable Jersey school.
Ian not only has worked on his project but is currently helping classmate Erica Jones out with her grant project, which she also got through Sustainable Jersey as a health and wellness grant. He also is an officer of the Asian Club and part of the Environmental Team at the high school.
What does the future look like for Ian? He wants to study environmental science or some kind of sustainability studies, possibly environmental policy. He is taking a year off from school to study in Chile to improve his Spanish fluency and to learn about agriculture as well as have some opportunities to study the environment,
What is the Sustainable Jersey for Schools certification?
Sustainable Jersey for Schools is a certification program for public schools in New Jersey. It was launched by Sustainable Jersey, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides tools, training and financial incentives to support and reward municipalities and schools as they pursue sustainability programs.
PHOTO CAPTION: Ian Crawford, GRHS senior (center), is congratulated by (from left) Donna Drewes, co-director Sustainable Jersey, Russell J. Furnari, manager Environmental Policy Enterprise PSEG Services Corporation, and Rick Dovey, president Sustainable Jersey at the March 22 awards ceremony.
