My school (Crofton Middle School) is big for a middle school: 1108 students. We used to have a recycling program for classroom wastes. But then some vandals burned the dumpster. This year there hasn't been any recycling at our school. I didn't like this! By calling the local Department of Public Works I discovered that we were supposed to get a replacement dumpster at no charge. I gave the number to call to request one to my principals. Hopefully the replacement will arrive soon. But more than just classroom waste, I would like to see my school recycle cafeteria waste. I think that this is an important issue because recycling is very good for the environment. Recycling creates jobs, reduces the need for incinerators and landfills, decreases pollution, helps stall global warming, saves trees, and much more. I think I am the right person to solve this problem at my school. I try to have good leadership skills and I am more than willing to take suggestions from others. My Girl Scout troop would help spread the word and I also plan to get involved in a new club coming soon to my school called Green Initiative. I have a lot of friends who I know have my back and will love to help. I know that my teachers and principals will take me seriously. I try to work hard, meet new people, get along with all sorts of people, follow through with things, and I try very hard to be responsible.

Many students don't know that much about recycling. Such as, what should be recycled and why. I want to see a lot of signs to hanging around the school to remind students and staff of what to recycle. I would ask the members of the Green Initiative club (when it starts) to help as well as my friends in school and in Girl Scouts. I would like to have enough money to do something else too which would actually be the main project. I was thinking that the "something else" could be encouraging kids to use a special type of lunch box called a Laptop Lunch. They are lunch boxes that have several compartments in one big one. Here is the website: www.laptoplunches.com . I have one and it is really eco-friendly. A lot of my friends really like them but they haven't bought them for themselves. They still throw away a lot of trash at the end of lunch. All the trash I have at the end of lunch is an empty milk carton. My project would not only be about recycling but also having not as much trash. I was thinking of having a contest between the 4 different lunch periods (A lunch, B lunch, etc) to see who can have the most recycling and least trash. Then I could pull a name from a jar with everyone's name in that lunch and they could get free laptop lunch if I had enough money from the grant to buy some to give away. Hopefully this will encourage other people to buy them. To those who can't afford one I could buy them one with the grant money. Of course not everyone would need an actual Laptop Lunch. It would be good even if more people packed their lunch in any sort of reusable container.

Steps taken: 1. I noticed that our school stopped its recycling program and it bothered me. 2. I asked the principal what happened and she said the recycling dumpster was vandalized. The school had asked for another one but were unsuccessful. 3. I thought about it a lot and asked some adults what they would do. Then I emailed the Department of Public Works and they told me that the contract the Board of Education signed with the recycling company included a rule that the recycler has to give a new recycling dumpster if the old one is damaged or destroyed. 4. I tried for several days to get an appointment with a school administrator to give them the news. It took some persistence but eventually I was able to give them the information for how to request a replacement dumpster. I hope it arrives soon! Steps to be taken when/if I have funding: Starting now: 1. Identify an advisor at my school to get permission for the things I want to do. (Actually I will have the advisor identified when I find someone to write the recommendation for this grant.) Late October if funding available: 2. Work with the advisor to get approval to hang signs around the school, laminate reminder cards to the lunch tables and trash cans, write an article for the school newsletter and for the morning announcements. Early November: 3. Talk with the members of the Green Initiative club and my Girl Scout troop to help make the signs and reminder cards. I would provide the materials (poster board and markers and contact paper) using the grant money. Mid November: 4. Talk to the custodians and tell them about the contest. Ask if they would mind counting how many bags of trash vs. recycling there are after each of the 4 lunch periods each day for 4 weeks. The contest would run November 17th-December 19th because we have a whole week off for Thanksgiving. 5. Each week I would figure out what the average was for each lunch period. Whichever lunch period had the highest percentage of recycling trash compared to the regular trash would be the winner that week. The prize would be a drawing for 3 free laptop lunches for students in the winning lunch period Goals: 1. I would like to see a reduction in all lunch room trash. I would ask the custodians how many bags of trash they take out on an average day and hope to see at least a 25% reduction by the end of the 4 weeks. 2. I would like to see the percentage of recyclable trash go up each week. Any increase would be good but ideally I would like to see twice as many bags of recycling as regular trash by the end of the 4 weeks. Essay 4: How would I measure the success of the project? I would ask the custodians every once in awhile if the number of bags of recycling is still greater than the number of bags of regular trash. If it seems like there is getting to be more regular trash I would make more posters or bigger signs in the lunch room and go on the announcements to remind people to keep recycling. Impact I have made already? By using a Laptop Lunch I have set a good example and some of my friends make less trash at lunch. And hopefully by giving the principal the number to call to get a replacement dumpster the school will be able to go back to recycling classroom wastes. Next steps? Find an advisor to write a recommendation. Submit this grant application and hope for some funding. Continue to encourage others to recycle. Winning a Green Grant would help me so much to implement this plan! Budget: If I receive $500 I would use $50 to get supplies to make posters to hang around the school and make fliers about the Laptop Lunches for students to take home. I would use the other $450 to purchase 20 Laptop Lunches. I would give away 3 each week to the winning lunchroom (3 Laptops x 4 weeks = 12 Laptops). The other 8 Laptops I would give to the Guidance Counselors to give to students they think could not afford to buy them.

By helping make posters and spreading the word. A grant for funding would be most appreciated.