Englewood Schools, under the guidance of Board of Education member Vicki Howard is turning over a new leaf. The School District recently enacted a single stream District wide recycling program. The program, being serviced by Waste Management's subsidiary company, Recycle America; accepts all manner of recyclable materials in a single container. It became clear to the District, that while individual schools had already enacted several student run recycling programs, the District needed a comprehensive program of its own.

The new District Program hasn't supplanted the individual programs, merely augmented them, and paved the way for other environmentally friendly, district wide initiatives. The District has formed a go green committee whose members include Ms. Howard from the BOE, Assistant Superintendent and CFO Peg LaPlante, teachers, custodians and other District personnel representing a cross section of stake holders and decision makers. The committee initially oversaw the implementation of the recycling program and now is looking forward to other areas of concern, such as lighting efficiency and lamp recycling, tech recycling programs and food services initiatives. The District is also attempting to reach out to the community for comment and suggestion. A link to the District's Go Green blog site can be found on the District web site at www.englewoodschools.org.

While the Recycling program and committee are relatively new, these programs are not the first environmentally friendly initiatives taken by Englewood Schools. Last year the cleaning chemicals used by custodial staff were changed to Green Seal approved chemicals. Toilet tissue and paper towels were changed over to a more eco friendly product comprised of 60% and 85% post consumer content respectively. The food services department has moved away from Styrofoam trays in favor of plastic trays that can be washed. This spring, the District will be retrofitting the gym at Englewood High School with higher efficiency lighting, which will actually offer greater lighting, as well as conserve electricity.

The reduction of the environmental impact is but one benefit derived from these initiatives. There is also a cost benefit. Washing trays instead of throwing them away prevents having to restock them continually. The paper towels and toilet tissue is less expensive than what was being used before. The lighting project in the high school gym will not only save electricity, but the cost will be partially reimbursed through Xcel Energy's rebate program to the tune of about $9,000 or 40% of the construction cost, which will hasten the pay back on the project. Finally, as the recycling program becomes more successful, the frequency of trash pick ups at the District may be reduced. As it turns out, it's kind of easy being green after all.