EPA's consumer recycling education and outreach (REO) grant program will fund a range of projects that will increase waste prevention activities, increase the collection of recyclable materials and…

This $1,190,907 Project Grant award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Reduce, Reuse, Recycling Education and Outreach (REO) Grant Program (CFDA 66.921) will fund the Go Green Initiative Association's efforts to enhance recycling education and outreach in the Camden, NJ community. The key project elements include:

1. Educating and training district staff, administrators, and students on recycling best practices, creating green teams, and developing strategic sustainability plans.

2. Providing recycling education and training for school faculty, staff, students, and families, including the creation of school green teams and student extracurricular clubs focused on community outreach.

3. Implementing student internships to drive extensive community education and outreach, with the goal of informing city residents, businesses, and schools about recycling programs, accepted materials, and increasing recycling rates while decreasing contamination.

The award will also provide $5,000 per school year in subawards to faculty advisors who will work with the 21st Century student clubs on these recycling initiatives.

EPA's consumer recycling education and outreach (REO) grant program will fund a range of projects that will increase waste prevention activities, increase the collection of recyclable materials and program participation rates, and decrease contamination of the recycling stream, fund projects that focus on commonly recycled materials such as municipal solid waste (e.g., plastics, aluminum, paper, glass, etc.), including food waste and organics, and/or fund projects and provide tools and technical assistance that will lead to long-term, sustained change, benefits, and support beyond the life of the grant. The purpose of this award is to enhance the go green initiative association's efforts to meet the REO grants elements. Go green will work with public schools, their staff, and students as the vehicles for change to inform the public and change behavior around proper recycling and waste management. Project elements are: 1) education and training of district staff and students, 2) student extracurricular activities plus 3) student internships that provide robust community outreach. Activities: through go green's project, school staff members, students, families of students, and the larger community will all be engaged. The three key project elements are: 1) education and training of district staff and administrators, along with the creation of a district green team, strategic sustainability planning, system development, and data tracking; 2) education and training of all school faculty, staff, students, and families, including the creation of school green teams, and student extracurricular clubs with extensive school community education and outreach; 3) student internships that prioritize substantial and far-reaching community education and outreach to change behaviors in the broader camden, NJ community. The objective of this project is to inform city residents, businesses, and schools about community recycling programs, provide information about accepted recycled materials, and increase recycling rates and decrease contamination rates in community recycling programs.subrecipient:each of the two local leaders of the 21ST century clubs must have a faculty advisor who will work with the club on campus and these will be paid via subawards. This will require time and additional duties outside their normal work hours/job description for extracurricular student support, and this subaward will compensate the teachers for that extra time/work. Each teacher will receive $5,000 per school year (approximately 26 weeks per year) which equals $192 per week. Weekly duties will include supervising weekly club meetings in their classroom, ensuring clubs follow all school rules for student organizations, assisting students with club projects, ensuring all school rules are followed for field trips and guest speakers on campus, attending and supervising all club activities, meetings, subcommittee meetings, etc. Outcomes:go green's goals and objectives are as follows: goals: #9679; students, school staff, and the community at large will understand the value of recycling. (camden does not currently provide municipal composting, but if IT does during the grant period GGI will expand the programs and goals to include IT.) #9679; students, school staff, and the community at large will possess knowledge of how to properly and effectively recycle. #9679; students, school staff, and the community at large will actively recycle on a daily basis - at school and in their homes. #9679; recycling rates will increase, less contamination, and less trash will be sent to local landfills with less methane produced. #9679; schools registered with GGI nationwide will receive information on the programs in camden with the goal of creating similar programs in other cities, districts, or schools. #9679; local students will develop 21ST-century skills that prepare them for green jobs. S.M.A.R.T. Objectives: #9679; 100% of distric