Bradt Primary School has received a $500 Earth Day grant to help expand its Green Team program throughout the building.
The 2019 grant was awarded by the Education Committee for the Eastern New York Chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA). For the past 18 years the association has been awarding Earth Day grants to schools with programs in place that improve the environment through education. Twenty-six grants were awarded this year to schools throughout New York State and the Capital District.
Bradt School has three large cans on wheels that students use to collect the paper recycling in each week from the recycling bins in the classrooms. The students wear green jerseys with recycling stickers that serve as their Green Team “uniforms.” Because of the stickers, the uniforms are not able to be washed.
Bradt School plans to use the grant money to possibly purchase new uniforms – T-shirts or vests – that would include a more durable Bradt Green Team recycling symbol so the uniforms can be taken home and washed. The team would also like to purchase a fourth large can on wheels so another recycling team can be added each week, as well as bigger recycling bins for some of the classrooms that generate a large amount of paper recycling.
In addition to helping the environment, the Green Team program teaches the students communications and collaboration skills as they work together to plan and collect the recycling materials in their assigned wings.