Waste Audit Results!

This week, our school conducted our first waste audit of the year. 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 2 bags of garbage with a total mass of 4.05 kg and 4 bags of recycling with a total mass of 3.2kg.

While we are doing a great job overall, there were some BIG problems.  Some of the recycling was contaminated because people are not emptying their juice boxes or milk cartons.  When you throw your juice box in the blue bin, it must be emptied first and the straw must be thrown in the garbage.  Milk cartons must always be rinsed out and emptied before going in the blue bin.  One of our recycling bags even has to be thrown in the garbage because of contamination.  There was liquid everywhere and we even found half a banana in this blue bin.  If we all do our part, we can make sure that we are recycling properly 100% of the time. 

Eco-Conference

On December 6th, 6 members of the EcoTeam went to to EcoConference held at Sacred Heart High School. There were many other schools there and we got a chance to showcase all of the great things we have been doing at St. James to help the environment. We also got to learn about the exciting projects going on all around our School Board. We will be introducing some of the ideas we learned about in the New Year. Stay tuned for more details!

PS We also were given 6 sets of really cool gardening tools which we can use in the Spring!

Welcome back!

Welcome back to a new school year. This year promises to be one full of new ideas and initiatives for our EcoTeam as we strive to maintain our Gold EcoSchools status!

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!

St. James is now a certified Gold EcoSchool!

Woohoo! St. James is now a certified GOLD EcoSchool! The certification process recognizes a school for its annual achievement in 4 key areas: energy conservation, waste minimization, ecological literacy and school ground greening. Congratulations to all EcoTeam members, staff and most importantly all of the students! We could not have done this without all your hard work and dedication!

Butterfly release!

Today the grade 1 students released the butterflies that they have been raising. The photo shows one of the many butterflies fluttering in our St. James garden. Let's hope they find it to be a wonderful habitat and stick around! Here is an irish blessing in honour of these beautiful creatures:

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun

and find your shoulder to light on,

To bring you luck, happiness and riches.

Today, tomorrow and beyond.

How does your garden grow?

Thanks to all of EcoTeam members, parent volunteers and teachers efforts, our front garden looks great! Everyone has been busy weeding, planting and watering to make sure that our garden not only looks great but will be a great habitat for the butterflies that our grade 1s have been growing. We are looking forward to their release!

Calling all EcoMembers with a GREEN thumb!

Next week, we will continue continue beautifying our yard by working on our front garden! Don't forget to bring your gardening gloves and keep your fingers crossed for great weather next Tuesday!