This award recognizes a school's ongoing efforts to support and expand programs for waste reduction, composting, and recycling.
It is intended to not only recognize a school for past efforts but to support the continuation and future goals of its programs. Ecology may recognize sustainable school programs created and implemented within five years of the application date.
This category awards funds to implement school waste reduction and recycling programs. A school can use the funds to:
- Buy educational aids and equipment for waste reduction/recycling programs. Examples include purchasing reusable utensils/trays/flatware for school cafeterias, installing bulk milk/juice/water dispensers to reduce food waste, hanging waste-reduction and recycling-focused educational signage, begin operating composting equipment, etc.
- Integrate sustainability lessons into the curriculum to help meet the goals established by the State of Washington Environmental Education Guidelines.
This category awards funds to generate newly created and original curricula that:
- Introduces students, teachers, staff, and administrators to the concepts of waste reduction, composting, recycling, green chemistry, sustainable design, or circular economy.
- Strives to inspire a sense of environmental stewardship in the students and staff.
All developed materials must be made publicly available through the Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons portal.