DESK & LOCKER LEFTOVERS

An environmental locker/desk cleanout is a great end of the school year activity. 
•    It is easy to do, 
•    requires little preparation, 
•    is highly visible, 
•    and is a great waste reducer. 

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It involves all of the “R’s” that a school should be focused on
•    reduce,
•    reuse, recycle 
•    and reject

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HOW TO GET STARTED:
Remind students that most items in the desk/locker have been purchased with their money, and often these belongings can STILL be used.

 
•    A t-shirt can be a proud hand-me-down to a child in Nicaragua, not trashed to a landfill. 
•    CT Quest for Peace can reuse everything 

o    Clothing (especially summer weight clothing) 
o    shoes, sneakers, flip-flops, water shoes
o    partially used spiral notebooks, (rip out the used pages)
o    school supplies (calculators, rulers, all kinds of markers, pens, pencils, scissors, etc.) 
o    office type supplies
o    art supplies
o    backpacks 
o    lunch containers & thermoses  
o    binders in good condition
o    sports equipment… all kids… even uniforms
o    musical instruments

 

This project has been successful using several different approaches.
1.    The entire student body can be responsible for sorting their “castoffs” into suggested categories listed below. Monitors may be assigned to oversee each area in order to avoid mistakes.
2.    Or, an organization such as your school environmental club or student council can separate the “trash” after the entire school has cleaned out their desks or lockers.

Prior to the cleanout day, 

• Designate an area for “unwanted” items. (The gym or multipurpose room or an open stage area often works well.) 

• Post signs indicating the different categories and place large boxes under each sign. 

• Articles of clothing can be washed later and donated to a charity

• Reusable paper & spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, rulers, scissors, office/art supplies, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc. were put into different boxes

 

Be flexible enough to create as many categories as you can use, once the “leftovers” are gathered.

 

Leading by Example:
The Earth Club, under the guidance of Ken Evans, at Lake Park High School in Roselle has sponsored Locker Clean Out for several years. On the given day, each earth club member spent their study hall period sorting through the materials. Between 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., during each school period approximately ten students worked diligently. At one cleanout they collected 84 large garbage bags of materials. At day’s end, only 3 trash bags were sent to the dumpster. They collected a stack of unused white notebook paper 8 feet high, a stack of reusable spiral notebooks 6 feet high, and hundreds of pens and pencils.

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Helpful Tips:
· If a club or organization is doing the sorting, make sure students are committed to the project. If it is a relatively small group, they may have to stay after school to finish and/or clean up.
· Discuss the process/system with the administration. Students must be permitted to go to the sorting area during their “free time”.
· Notify the public relations person for the School District about the event.
· Discuss the system with the custodial staff.
· If the group has some money available, order pizzas and pop for all the “volunteers”. (Lake Park HS also buys pizza for the custodians and maintenance staff as a thank you for helping to recycle throughout the year.)
· In a faculty newsletter or bulletin, explain the project. Some staff members may allow students out of scheduled classes and then have them make up missed work for the day.
· Have a storage area for all the paper and supplies saved for the following school year.

TURN YOUR STUDENTS INTO GARBOLOGISTS!!