Washington, DC

(Washington DC) — As the world celebrates Earth Day today, the Department of General Services (DGS) is recognizing that 48 District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) schools have made the DCPS Recycles! Honor Roll 2015.

“Through the collaborative efforts of DGS and DCPS, we have shown that schools all across the city, when given the right services, supplies, and support, can implement high quality recycling programs,” said Jonathan Kayne, DGS Interim Director. “DGS is also excited to confirm that organics recycling in the schools is no longer a pilot program, but is being phased in to all DCPS schools as part of the standard DCPS Recycles! program.”

Of the 48 schools that have demonstrated enthusiasm for, and excellence in, recycling, 21 schools are honored with distinction for their exceptionally high performance in implementing organics recycling in their kitchens and cafeterias, while maintaining consistent paper recycling in classrooms and offices.

This year DCPS schools sent about 100 tons of cafeteria and kitchen waste to a composting facility instead of a landfill or incinerator, said Mark Chambers, DGS Associate Director of Sustainability and Energy. “More importantly, we have started working more closely with DCPS food services on how our program can help inform their efforts to reduce food waste before it gets to the bins,” Chambers said.

“Special congratulations to the 21 schools that are honored with distinction. These schools achieved whole-school participation – that means that everyone takes responsibility for sorting their own waste into the right bins, and the maintenance staff makes sure that the sorted waste makes it into the right dumpsters. This takes an exceptional combination of leadership, operations, and education staff working together,” Chambers said.

“In our top recycling schools, the maintenance staff is often champions of the program,” added Beth Gingold, DGS Schools Conservation Coordinator.