Florida Schools Drag Feet on Recycling

The nation's eighth-largest school district struggles to bring campuses on board the recycling drive. Letitia Stein of the St. Petersburg Times reports on efforts that school leaders have made to conserve their resources over the past year.

TAMPA, FLA. -- Think about all the worksheets, homework assignments and tests passed out in Hillsborough classrooms. So why do only half of the schools recycle paper?

And that's the good news on the recycling front. Just 17 campuses are collecting aluminum cans. Barely two dozen are recycling printer cartridges and cell phones.

In the year and a half since superintendent MaryEllen Elia made greening a priority for the nation's eighth-largest district, school leaders have learned it isn't easy going green.

So far, Hillsborough's efforts have focused on energy conservation. The district saved $3.5-million last year by cutting its electric bill 10 percent. Officials are working toward a similar target this year.

But many want to see more recycling in classrooms, a place to grow environmental awareness in future generations. Right now, these initiatives remain largely up to individual schools.

It couldn't be easier at the schools within the city of Tampa, which doesn't charge for recycling bins and weekly pickup of paper, bottles and cans. Yet less than 25 percent of the public school campuses inside city limits are taking full advantage.

"That's a number that we would like to see grow," said Tonja Brickhouse, the director overseeing recycling efforts within the city's solid waste department.

Outside Tampa, schools may find recycling more complicated, as the county does not service campuses directly. But several companies are willing to pick up recyclables and pay schools for their efforts.

School Board member Candy Olson wants to spread the word by adding information to the district's Web site. She said highlighting some schools as models could show others how to do it.

"There is not someone who has been able to focus on it and make it easy," Olson said. "If we can make this an economic interest and an environmental interest, it will, I hope, move faster."

For the complete story, visit the St. Petersburg Times.