Thanks to an effort spearheaded by fourth-grader Carly Houk, students and administrators are getting down and dirty with lunchtime trash. The effort began when Carly asked her mother, Kathleen, why recycling was not used at the school. Kathleen contacted Waste Management, which visited the school for an educational assembly.

The waste company provided free blue bins for the school and instructed Carly's Junior Girl Scout Troop 576 as to what was recyclable and what should be thrown away. Carly was eager to bring recycling, which had been absent from Daves for several years, to her school.

"I wanted to do it because all trash, including compost and recycling, goes into trash cans and the person who did the assembly said we could run out of landfills," she says. "That's why I wanted to start recycling. I hope it lasts for a whole year at least."

Decked in bright green vests provided by Kathleen Houk, the Girl Scout volunteers stand with the bins during lunch hour, pointing out to their peers what should be recycled. Soon the Green Team positions will be filled on a rotating basis, with different classrooms helping out each day.

"It's been great because it has spurred the kids to get out and pick up their own trash more conscientiously. They are even picking up trash on the playground," says Kathleen Houk. "It really surprises me how much the kids have gotten into it and own it. And the school has been thrilled and very supportive."

Daves Avenue Principal Susan von Felten says the program is a great development for the school. "Our campus has never been so clean. The kids have taken the ball and run with it, which is really nice," she says. "It's their way of giving back to the community and giving back to the earth."

The issue of recycling had been a major concern at the school for several years, von Felten says. Questions about what was recyclable were always a problem, as was bin visibility and workers to help at lunch. Having the big blue bins and a volunteer team that is trained in recyclable materials has so far eliminated those issues.

"With the assembly, all the kids got to learn and be excited about recycling, and now they are jazzed up," von Felten says. "It just brought them around full circle. They understand that if they drop something on the ground, it doesn't just go away."