Keeping It Green at International Day 2018

International Day

International Day and Night are wonderful events at San Mateo Adult School.  People celebrate the beauty and power of our diversity.  They also prepare and eat a lot of food.  There is a lot of "trash" or "garbage" at the end of event.

Keeping It Green

Green is a color. Green also means good for the environment, for the planet, for nature, for people. This year, SMAS "kept it green" for International Day.  That means we did things that are good for the environment.

What We Did

Instead of putting everything - food, paper plates, recycling, paper, foil - in the trash, we separated trash, compost, and recycling.   

How We Did It

Teacher Jessica at the Green Station

Teacher Jessica organized everything.  She asked Teacher Cynthia to help.  Jessica and Cynthia brought buckets for compost and made signs.  Tommy provided big containers for trash and recycling.  Everyone came to the Green Station with their dirty plates, cups, napkins, forks and spoons.

On the day of the event, Teacher Cynthia's daughter came to help.  Tommy was a huge help.   Toshio helped, too.

Three Categories

Compost: 

Jessica, Serafina and Cynthia

at the Green Station

* Food

* Paper plates dirty with food

* Paper cups dirty from drink

* Napkins

Recycling:

* Plastic - cups, silverware, containers

* Foil wrap that is not dirty

* Foil containers
* Plastic lids

* Cardboard boxes

* Paper

Trash:

* Styrofoam cups and plates

* Cups that are a mix of paper and plastic - this cannot be recycled and must go in the trash.

* Thin plastic wrap

Results:  
* 3 huge bags of recycling
* Many, many bags of compost (in special green, compostable bags)
* Half of a big school trash can - filled with trash

Two huge cardboard boxes

 with green compostable bags

full of compost from

International Day

A big bin of green compostable bags

full of compost from International Day

Recycling ready to be 

taken to the Recycling Center

A huge bag of recycling

with gloves used 

at the Green Station

* The recycling will be made into new things.
* The compost become healthy soil for farming and gardening.
* The trash will go into the landfill.

Why We Did It

Throwing everything in the trash causes many problems.  It is expensive in the short-term and the long-term.   (It costs money now and it costs money later.)

Short Term Cost

The school must pay money for trash service.  Less trash means lower cost.  

Long Term Cost

Recycling and composting save money and save our planet.  We do not have to drill for more oil to make new plastic.  We do not have to mine for new bauxite for new aluminum.  We can make "new" plastic from old plastic.  We can make "new" cans from old cans.   Recycling costs less money and uses less oil and gas and coal.  Using oil and gas and coal makes Climate Change worse.

Climate Change is causing many problems.  The water in the ocean and the bay is rising because the polar ice caps are melting.  This will cause problems for San Mateo and anywhere next to an ocean or a bay.  You can learn more from the website, Sea Change San Mateo County. Climate Change also makes storms and hurricanes and droughts and fires bigger and stronger.  You can learn more about that from this article from NASA, "What Climate Change Means for Glaciers, Storms, Fires, Clouds and More."

Special Note:  We cannot recycle everything at our school.  We can recycle paper, and cardboard, and plastic and aluminum water and soda bottles.  Teacher Cynthia took the recycling home to San Francisco.  In San Francisco, you can recycle many things.

Foil containers

washed and stacked by Toshio

Special Note: Foil containers can be recycled.  But!  They can also be washed and used again and again.  To get aluminum, we must do open pit mining.  This causes many problems.  It is better to wash something and use it again.  Toshio washed many foil containers so we can use them again.  Thank you, Toshio!

Open pit bauxite mine

Bauxite is for aluminum

Recycling and composting take extra effort.   In the beginning, it can be a little difficult to learn how to do it.  But - just like learning English! - the effort brings wonderful results.

Together we can make a difference for our community, our world, our future.

Do you want to help make International Night green, too?  

Talk to Teacher Cynthia or Teacher Jessica.