Situated just south of Murfreesboro down Shelbyville Pike, Christiana Middle School is home of the Cougars. As their mascot suggests, this school is highly adaptable, readily making changes in order to adjust to its transforming environment. While the school is exemplary in a number of ways, its continuing commitment to the community and the environment through its recycling efforts has served to establish it as a recognized leader in this regard.
Christiana Middle School has participated in recycling since its opening day back in 2003. However, in 2010, the school was given the option to pull out plastic, cardboard and metal into the single-stream bins. The school was quick to embrace this new opportunity.
In speaking with representatives from numerous states across the country, in my attempts to really understand recycling and what components create successful recycling programs, there is always a response that seems to resonate across the board, and Christiana Middle School has not been the exception. Dawn Powell, lead organizer of Christiana Middle’s recycling efforts states, “Our success can be attributed to a total buy-in from all members of our school. From the principals and office staff, to the custodians and kitchen employees, it takes everyone in the building to care about where they place their waste.”
Powell beams with pride as she talks about recycling efforts in the school and the different ways that we can all be a part of the solution to local waste management problems. She explains part of the process she goes through each year to ensure the school’s success. She begins the year by meeting with all stakeholders and keeps them informed of her proposals and plans that she intends to implement throughout the year. She also explains why it should be important to them as county residents. Educating students about the importance of recycling and the effects it can have are also essential. She contributes the success of her program to continuing educational gatherings such as these, as well as proper signage, accountability and a motivated student body.
Dawn Powell
I asked Powell how the community at large could benefit from the system she has implemented. She stated that more media coverage is essential. If others are not only informed of the problem, but also advised how it personally affects each resident’s bottom line, she feels they will be more likely to become involved.
Powell keeps busy not only through her recycling efforts at Christiana Middle (where she is also a STEM teacher), but she also is involved in the community through various efforts.
“I have attended community environmental events as a Rutherford County, Tennessee, resident. I was asked to judge the Governor’s Environmental Awards this year and was invited to attend the ceremony that awarded top recycling and environmental stewards,” she says.
Powell wants the world to know that when you drop your waste into a receptacle, that’s not the end of it. We should care where it goes from there because, in addition to negatively affecting our environment, it also affects our bottom line.
“The public should care about where their waste is going because it will take money out of every resident’s pocket when the landfill closes—and the end is coming fast,” she says.
She also encourages spreading the news about emphasizing the waste associated with cross-contamination. “Like I told the students, don’t be the one that spoils a whole truckload of recyclables with a careless act of recycling incorrectly. Don’t fill our valuable landfill space with recyclables. It should matter to everyone, and it is not difficult.”
Recycling efforts in the county continue to be discussed as the Middle Point Landfill approaches capacity, and community efforts like the standards set at Christiana Middle School could go a long way toward establishing sustainable future practices.
