Reuable Bag Giveaway!

Last year, SFS helped hand out canvas bags at a grocery store that local elementary students had decorated as part of an annual campaign to encourage the use of reusable bags. This year we asked the man who organizes it if he needed any help again. Recently he replied and we are helping him transport eight boxes of blank canvas bags to Colter Elementary School. The students will decorate them and eventually we will help hand them out at a grocery store again. While handing out these bags to residents, we will also pass out information on why reusable bags should be used more than plastic and paper bags. Updates to come about when the giveaway day will be!

Water Bottle Fillers Update!

Two years ago, some SFS members went to a daylong project called the Kelly Green Schools, where they experienced hands-on energy reduction projects. Because they attended this workshop, our club received a grant for $2,200 from the Project Learning Tree's Green Schools program in cooperation with the Forest Service.

            As a group, we decided that a very important, waste saving, project we could do would be to install automatic water bottle fillers around our school, which not only quickly fill reusable bottles with filtered water, but also track the amount of plastic bottles that are being saved.

            As of now, the first water bottle station has been installed in JHHS, and in one week it managed to save 730 plastic water bottles from being used. Because of the grant we received, also because of the generosity of Jackson Hole High School and Teton County School District #1, four more water bottle filling stations are to be installed in JHHS in March.

            In tandem with the fillers project, last year we worked with JHHS to stop the selling on plastic water bottles in the JHHS lunch line, as well as to incorporate a new recycling system that encourages high school students to recycle their plastic bottles instead of throwing them away.

            During the end of the school year (April through June) we will be posting updates tracking how many plastic bottles we have been able to save, so keep updated with our blog!

            One project that we hope to do in the upcoming year is work with the Teton County Recycling Center in order to fund reusable water bottles for JHHS students who would like them. More will be said about this project as time progresses! 

Library Recycling!

          Students for Sustainability was contacted by the Teton County Library to work together on recycling initiatives this past winter. Currently the club members go to the library every other week to take out the library’s paper, plastic, cardboard, and other forms of recycling. Working together with other members of the community on eco-friendly projects is beneficial for all, especially because it helps our club move beyond just our school, and into the greater Jackson area.