Lincoln Middle School “Green Teamers” (from left) Greta Miller, Fiona Maloney, and Charlotte Geier recycle books in the new outdoor collection bin.
Just in time for spring cleaning, student “Green Team” members at Park Ridge-Niles School District 64’s Lincoln Middle School, 200 S. Lincoln Ave., Park Ridge, invite local residents to drop off unwanted books in a new, outdoor donation bin as a fundraiser for their school-wide recycling and other “green” activities.
Students believe that winter-weary local residents may have filled the extra hours indoors this year by sorting bookshelves, thinning out old music and movie collections, or clearing out storage boxes. Instead of setting them out as garbage, Green Teamers welcome deposits of these unwanted books, workbooks, textbooks, CDs and DVDs in any condition into the new bin.
The oversized drop-off box sits conveniently on the west side of the school along Western Avenue near the school parking lot. It is accessible 24 hours a day for easy drop offs.
Not only will the bin help keep materials out of landfills, Green Teamers will use the funds received from the Reuse Books organization that tends the bin to expand recycling initiatives in the Lincoln lunchroom and in classrooms at the school, which serves more than 700 students in grades 6-8.
In other green news, students throughout District 64 also have been undertaking a variety of waste recycling and reduction initiatives thanks to a total of $1,200 in grants for the 2014-15 school year awarded by the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC).