SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Schools’ Recycling Program Lauded

Joe Dixon, custodian supervisor in the Capistrano Unified School District, had three goals in mind when he started the district’s recycling program a year and a half ago: He wanted to keep it simple, he wanted to keep it cheap, and he wanted students and district officials to rally behind it.

According to a pair of state and local groups that recently looked at the program, it has succeeded on all counts.

“This is the most aggressive recycling program I’ve ever seen in terms of its scope,” said Robert Lay, chairman of the board at the South Orange County Chamber of Commerce. The chamber presented the school district with an environmental management award last week.

In praising the district’s program--which is called RED, an acronym for “Recycle Every Day”--Lay said it has helped educate thousands of students about the value of the environment and the importance of recycling.

The state Department of Conservation agreed and recently gave the program its “Pat on the Back” award for recycling achievement.

RED began as a pilot program in April, 1990, and in its early stages had a limited mission. Only bonded paper was recycled, and students, teachers and administrators were asked to deposit paper in distinctive red waste containers.

“We wanted something so ugly that it would remind you to recycle,” Dixon said of the containers, which now sit in classrooms and workstations throughout the district.

Once students and district officials mastered the first phase, Dixon expanded the program to recover aluminum, glass, tin cans, newspaper, cardboard and certain plastics like milk cartons and water bottles.

By the close of the school year in June, 107,000 pounds of materials had been recovered, saving the district $20,000 in trash collection fees and earning it $1,000 from the sale of the recycled products, Dixon said.

The program continues to expand, Dixon added, noting that last spring students began recycling polystyrene, a Styrofoam-like material used in food trays and utensils at Las Palmas Elementary School.