BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Some Brown County schools are starting to see the effects of ‘going green.’
This school year, eight local educational facilities took part in a new milk carton recycling program.
The effort is coordinated by the county’s Port and Resource Recovery Department and began with a grant from the Carton Council, an organization aimed at increasing carton recycling nationwide.
Five of the eight schools involved in the pilot program are in the Ashwaubenon School District: Ashwaubenon High School, Cormier School and Early Learning Center, Parkview Middle School, Pioneer Elementary School, and Valley View Elementary School.
The others involved are De Pere High School, Green Bay’s Wequiock Elementary, and Howard-Suamico’s Bayview Middle School.
Those schools worked closely in the implementation with Tri-County Recycling, who provided recycling bins, signs, and toolkits.
In this first year, Tri-County’s Sarah Chisholm says the goals were to help the districts save money, decrease trash waste, and get students excited about recycling.
Resource Recovery Business Manager Mark Walter hopes the eight participants “demonstrate how impactful this carton recycling program could be for other school districts.”
The Carton Council estimated the eight schools’ participation in the recycling program would keep roughly 20,700 pounds out of landfills on an annual basis.
If all Brown County schools took part, officials say that number would increase to more than 220,000 pounds.
