Welcome to our environmental website! Here you will be able to keep track of our current projects and learn more about ways that you can help make our earth a better place. We are hoping to become a certified Ontario EcoSchool for the first time this year. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Eco-Conference
PS We also were given 6 sets of really cool gardening tools which we can use in the Spring!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Welcome back!
Remember as you start to plan for school lunches that we promote litterless lunches.
Did you know that It has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year? That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one elementary school.
What can you do?
- Pack sandwiches in a reusable container instead of in a ziplock bag
- Make your own snack mix instead of sending a granola bar
- Send juice/water/milk in a reusable container instead of in a juice box or tetra-pack
- Cut cheese off of a larger brick and put in a reusable container with some crackers instead of buying cheese strings or the cheese and crackers packages
- Buy the large tub of yogurt and put it in a reusable container (could even add some fresh or frozen berries!) instead of yogurt tubes or single-serving yogurts
For more ideas, visit these websites:
Lunch Without Waste
Living Green, Living Well
The main goal is to leave the packaging at the store! By taking small steps, we can make a big difference.
Go Green!
Friday, June 17, 2011
St. James is now a certified Gold EcoSchool!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Butterfly release!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
How does your garden grow?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Calling all EcoMembers with a GREEN thumb!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Second Waste Audit Results
In February 36.5% of our garbage was actual garbage, in April that number has increased to 84%! In addition, our recycling was 99.1% recyclable paper and plastics! Back in February, each student was generating 7 kg of garbage per year, now, thanks to everyone’s hard work, we are now generating .94 kg per student per year.
That is a 744% improvement! WOW!!!
Congratulations! Together we are making a real difference by reducing our waste!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Happy Earth Week!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Cleaning the Capital
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Litterless Lunches
What? Sending lunch in re-usable containers
Why? To encourage the 4th "R"...Re-Think! It is time we started to re-think the way we make school lunches. It is easy to go litterless, but it does mean re-thinking what you buy at the grocery store.
For example: - Buy the large tub of yogurt instead of tubes or individual cups. The large tub can be recycled, but the individually packaged yogurt goes in the garbage.- Even though juice boxes can be recycled, buying one can of concentrate goes a lot farther in re-usable drink containers and creates a lot less waste.
- Cheese and crackers is a simple snack to make, and is healthier than the processed cheese that comes in the snack packs.Just remember...leave the packaging at the store!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Earth Hour
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Bottled Water Free Day!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Message in a bottle
In preparation for March 10th, Bottled Water Free Day, our EcoTeam wrote a letter to Mayor Watson asking him to make the City of Ottawa a Bottled Water Free Zone. We packed it in one of our new St. James Sharks stainless steel bottles - our message in a bottle was then sent to his office. Please click below to read the letter we sent:
Monday, March 7, 2011
And the Winner is....
PS Mrs. Fitzgerald chose tap water too!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Waste Audit!
We have just completed our first waste audit! We collected 24 hours of garbage and recycling and did a visual audit using clear bags and visual estimation. We also weighed the garbage and recorded all of our findings. All together we had 8 bags of garbage with a total mass of 12.8 kg and 6 bags of recycling with a total mass of 12 kg. The majority of the garbage was paper towels and organics (bananas, apples, sandwiches) which can now be put in our green bins.
Here are our average findings:
Garbage Audit
Recyclable containers
7.5 %
Recyclable paper
10.8 %
Food Waste/Organics
45.1 %
Garbage
36.5 %
Recycling Audit
Recyclable containers
17.5 %
Recyclable paper
79.5 %
Food Waste/Organics
2.5 %
Garbage
3.5 %
Our school is doing a fantastic job with recycling, now we need to focus on using our green bins properly. Our goal is to cut our waste by 40% by Earth Day, April 22, 2011. We can do it!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Rethink water
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Duck, duck, GOOS
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Don't get Busted!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Amazing work EcoBusters!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Put it in the Green Bin
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
St. James goes green!
Baking ingredients, herbs and spices
Bread, cereals, crackers and grains
Candy and gum
Chips, popcorn and nuts
Coffee grounds and filters
Cookies, cakes, muffins and pastries
Dairy products (cheese, sour cream)
Dough
Eggs and egg shells
Fruits and vegetables
Jams, Jellies, Marmelades/chutney
Leftover cooking oils, lard, shortening, fat, butter and margarine
Meat, fish, shellfish, poultry, pork bones and scraps
Nuts and shells
Pasta, beans, rice and couscous
Peanut butter
Pet food
Pits (all types)
Salad dressing, mayonnaise, vinegar, sauces, marinades, dips and gravy
Seeds
Tea and tea bags
Yard waste:
Branches, twigs and hedge trimmings
Leaves
Plants and weeds
Grass clippings
Other acceptable items
Animal bedding (e.g. bird and hamster cages)
Barbeque Ashes
Butcher’s meat wrap
Cold fireplace ash
Cotton balls
Dryer lint
Floor sweepings, vacuum bags and vacuum contents
Food-soiled paper towels, napkins and tissues
Food-soiled pizza boxes (pizza boxes should not go in black bin)
Household plants, including soil
Kitty litter
Microwave popcorn bags
Paper coffee cups, plates and muffin wrappers
Pet fur, hair and feathers
Soiled paper, boxboard and cardboard
Sugar, flour and potato paper bags
Waxed paper, cardboard and cold drink cups
Wooden popsicle sticks and toothpicks
Wood chips, sawdust and untreated wood scraps (less than four inches in any dimension)