Green Team

The Dilworth Green Team is a PTA led committee dedicated to guiding Dilworth Elementary toward becoming one of the leading green schools in the CMS district.  We recognize that it is our children who can really make a difference to the world in which we live.  It is their involvement and leadership that will drive us toward a healthier and happier planet.  In the school year 2015/2016 we have begun green work through several initiatives:

Recycling Center

The whole school was introduced to the Mecklenburg County Recycling CMS program on Earth Day with a tremendous presentation by one of the county’s environmental specialists.  This helped to build an awareness of how important what we do with our trash is and how recycling as much as possible can really make an impact on the environment.  During the school year we have expanded our school Recycling Center to include sneakers.  The sneakers are taken to a Nike outlet where they find new uses for the shoes.  (Follow this link to find out more).  We currently accept egg boxes, batteries, printer cartridges and sneakers for recycling.  We plan to expand this program in the coming year.

Student Green Team

The Dilworth Elementary Student Green Team is made up of 3rd and 4th graders who will be instrumental in our green projects moving forward.  They will become our recycling stewards at Dilworth events and in our cafeteria as we enter the new school year.  The Student Green Team will be involved in Earth Day, lead recycle contests, and conduct litter sweeps throughout the school.  They will help other students become more environmentally conscious.  We have our 4th graders selected and at the beginning of the new school year will be adding 3rd graders to the team.  In addition, each Dilworth classroom has two Recycle Captains responsible each week for collecting the classes’ recyclables and delivering them to our custodians.  They also have an opportunity to help other students recycle the right items and educate on this issue.

Quick Tips/ Did you Know?

• As long as you attach the plastic bottle cap to a rinsed bottle, Mecklenburg County will recycle both!
• Do NOT put your trash bag with recyclables inside into your large recycle wheelie bin.  It will contaminate the whole load!
• In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage.  If you add it up, this means that a 150 pound adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 pounds of trash for his or her children!
• Of the garbage Americans throw out, half could be recycled.  That’s enough to fill a football stadium from top to bottom every day!
• Just one plastic soda bottle will take 400-500 years to decompose in a landfill.
• Consider life without plastic.  For most items you can find a plastic alternative, such as glass, wood, ceramic, or paper.  It doesn’t have to cost more, it just requires a little more thought. Go to http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/alternatives-to-plastic.html to find out more.
• Ditch the plastic baggies!!!  Please consider using tupperware or other reusable containers for your child’s lunch or snacks. According to the Wall Street Journal Americans use and throw away 100 billion plastic bags every year, which requires 12 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture.