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Fifth-Graders At Bryan Elementary Pitch In To Collect Recyclable Materials

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By GEORGE WILKENS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2008

PLANT CITY - The sun is barely up as Bryan Elementary fifth-graders scurry from classroom to classroom, collecting the weekly bounty for their school's recycling program.

Now in its second year, the program is the pet project of math teacher Nancy Komassa. She launched Plant City's first school recycling program several years ago at Lincoln Elementary, where she taught for two decades before her 2006 transfer to Bryan.

Komassa's personal dedication to recycling inspired the school project, which is simple but efficient.

In each classroom is a blue bin provided by Plant City's recycling program. At 7:30 every Friday morning, before class, fifth-graders collect the bins of mixed recyclables and deliver them to the open-air corridor near Komassa's classroom.

There they sort and count the week's take, which is then weighed and tallied by Komassa.

"They do work hard," she said of the fifth-graders who make the weekly collections. "Last year we recycled 5,000 bottles, 4,000 pounds of paper and maybe 1,000 cans," Komassa said.

A recent Friday collection included items typical of the two tons of paper collected last year — from large posters to small scraps, even expired clinic passes.

"They're really good about it," Komassa said of the students, keenly aware of which items are suitable for recycling. "They'll catch each other," chiding any fellow student who absent-mindedly tosses a recyclable item into a school trashcan, she said.

Enthusiasm for the project has spread beyond the campus. Some students who live in areas lacking curbside collections tote their recyclables to school. That's evident from this latest collection, which includes foam egg cartons and gallon-size plastic bottles that once held laundry detergent.

As 11-year-old Kelly Amis tallies a bin of 42 plastic bottles and Komassa weighs a load of paper, three more students arrive with a cart carrying two additional bins of recyclables. One of the fifth-graders, Joceline Lumberas Lumbreras, characterizes the goal of recycling as a modern-day necessity.

"You're not killing your planet," the 11-year-old said. Students tote the bins to the curb for pickup a few hours later by "the recycling people," Lumberas Lumbreras said, adding that she doesn't know what next happens to the items.

The superintendent of the Plant City Sanitation Division, Troy Martin, has the answers.

Different buyers purchase the recyclables. "We're not as concerned with making a profit as keeping it out of the landfill," which aside from the environmental value, also saves money by reducing the city's disposal costs, known as tipping fees, he said.

The would-be garbage is recycled into everything from new cans, bottles and paper, to products such as insulation, car parts, even clothing.

By the 8 a.m. start of classes, students have collected, sorted and weighed the morning's collection. Komassa tallies it up the weekly take:

69 pounds of paper

167 plastic bottles

24 aluminum cans

Via e-mail, Komassa informs fellow teachers about the week's haul. "And they're like, 'Oh, my gosh;' they can't believe it. You don't realize how much you're actually throwing out until you start weighing it," Komassa said.

"And that's just from us," she said of the yield from the school at 2006 W. Oak Ave., which has an enrollment of 819. Komassa's wish is every school would start a recycling program.

Martin said he wishes more schools had a recycling program and the city would accommodate any others wanting to launch one.

At Lincoln Elementary, recycling is part of teachings about Earth's finite resources while other in-school campaigns encourage waste reduction, said Cynthia Doyle, curriculum integration resource teacher.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433.

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