“Work smarter, not harder,” said Woodland Heights Elementary School Counselor and Green Team Sponsor Kimber Bennett. “The [Green Team] kids worked extremely hard and recognized that when you work hard together you can accomplish big goals.” The Green Team consists of Woodland Heights third graders who must submit an application, obtain teacher references, and meet leadership requirements. They collect recycling and aim to meet a goal every year. This year’s team collected and recycled 235,655 pounds of material. To translate this into a visual, this weight is equivalent to fifty-five average passenger cars. “We collect all the recycling on campus every Friday and load the trailer on Tuesday mornings,” Bennett said. “Jennifer Fris from the City of Brownwood Recycling Department has been amazing to work with us to ensure all our recycling is weighed and reported back so we can share with the community.” Woodland Heights students and their parents are encouraged throughout the year to bring recyclables to the trailer parked on campus, and the Green Team has also incorporated multiple community business partners to help meet those goals. Business sponsors include Brownwood ISD, Chick-Fil-A, Section Hand Restaurant, Honey Bee Natural Foods, Southwest Appliance, On Point Plumbing, Howard Payne University/Dr. Wendy McNeely and Howard Payne University Library, Diamond R Store and Cafe, Sliger’s, Painter and Johnson Financial, Depot Liquor, and Red Wagon Restaurant.

Members of the community are encouraged to drop off items in the trailer during the school year in order to aid the continued efforts of the Green Team’s rising recycling goals. The green bins behind Woodland Heights on Third Street are available year-round for cardboard donations. The weight accumulated during the summer is credited to the Green Team for the following school year.

The Green Team helps businesses and student families recycle products, while it also teaches students valuable lessons about teamwork and responsibility.

“I love watching the team learn to work together and work through the kinks of thinking it can be done individually when it really has to be a team effort,” Bennett said. “And once that recognition hits, they become unstoppable. They then carry that leadership over into the classroom and school environment and there is a ripple effect that benefits the whole school.” The Green Team began in 2008 with the efforts of students and teacher sponsors, to collect and recycle products; throughout that school year, the dozen team members collected approximately 2,000 pounds of paper and plastic. “This year, Woodland Heights Music teacher Amy Adams, PE Coach Jacob Stephenson, PE Paraprofessional Sulema Rutherford, and Computer Paraprofessional Chris Valdez stepped up in a fabulous way to help lead the Friday collection of recycling so that we could become more effective,” Bennett said. “We will be going a tad bit higher with our goal next year and that goal will be set by the incoming team. We invite the community to save up their recycling and be ready for August!” Items that can be recycled include: cardboard, #2 plastics/water bottles, white paper (bagged and tied off), shredded paper (bagged and tied off), magazines and newspapers, metal cans, aluminum cans.

Written by Sara Musgrove