The Washington-Hoyt Elementary School green schools program won a Terry Husseman Sustainable Schools Award, sponsored by the Washington State Department of Ecology. Only 15 other schools throughout the state received this award.
These awards recognize efforts to maintain and expand programs that focus on waste reduction, recycling and sustainability. The Department of Ecology wants to encourage schools to be role models in environmental stewardship for students and community members.
Washington-Hoyt's programs include classroom recycling, waste-free events, milk carton recycling and a new program to compost all waste food from the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade lunch periods. To date, the school has separated more than a ton of waste food from lunch garbage and sent for composting.
Washington-Hoyt will use the $1,000 award to purchase environmental education materials for classrooms.