Fifth graders partner with community through recycling intiative

Fifth-grade students at Round Hill Elementary School are connecting with their community and building relationships by participating in a recycling initiative. 

The recycling initiative is in partnership with the Hannaford grocery store and the Washingtonville Lions Club, which was founded in 1917. The club serves the greater Washingtonville community and is involved in many different projects, including caring for the environment, feeding the hungry and aiding seniors and the disabled. 

Ms. Martirano introduced the initiative to Round Hill after learning about it through Hannaford. Community members receive green recycling bags and can accumulate a balance from their recyclables that they can use to buy groceries, convert to cash or even donate to a local organization. Ms. Martirano, who is from the Washingtonville area, felt that this initiative would be beneficial to the students in learning about recycling and why it’s important. 

“This is the eighth year that I have been doing this and I think that it’s really important for the students to work together on something like this and partner with a great community organization.”

Money gained by Round Hill is donated to Washingtonville Memorial Park, which is then used to provide inclusive playground equipment for the community. 

Ms. Martirano’s students participate as well as her co-teacher, Debbie Boerke. Students collect recyclables from the main office as well as from students’ families and other teachers in the building. 

“Each bottle or can donated is worth 5 cents,” Ms. Martirano said. “Each bottle or can should have a sign on it that says New York 5 cents. If the item doesn’t say that we can’t use it. Once we bring everything back to the classroom, we begin the sorting process.”

As students count the recyclables they have received, they divide their responsibilities into groups. Some students drop the cans into the recycling bag while others keep track of the numbers on the board using tally marks. 

“I want to make sure that they all get a chance to do each part so I usually rotate the teams,” Ms. Martirano said. 
 
After everything is sorted, they add the tags to each bag. The bags are picked up from members of the Washingtonville Lions and scanned at the drop-off location.

Mia Agudall, a student in Ms. Martirano’s class, has been participating in the recycling program with her family ever since she was in pre-k. She splits the money they recieve with her brother.

“I think it’s important to recycle because it’s better than wasting and leaving everything there,” said Mia. “It helps save the environment and we don’t want everything going to a landfill where it’ll just pile up and contribute to pollution.”

So far, they have collected 2,200 recyclables and will continue collecting more as the year progresses.