The plastics are off to Farwest Fibers!

During the assembly yesterday, the EcoThink Club members helped carry all 20 bags of plastics that were collected during the Earth Week Plastic Drive to the front of the gym. Ranger Christal Florin from Tryon Creek State Park was impressed with how much plastic our community saved from the landfill! She talked to the students about recycling and about how to creating a waste-free lunch - showing examples from her lunch box. After the assembly, we packed all of the bags into her truck (it barely fit - check out the photo!) and they were off to be recycled.

Our club was featured in the Southwest Connection newspaper!

"Rieke EcoThink Club inspires green thinking for Earth Month"

http://www.swcommconnection.com/news/print_story.php?story_id=130392511762057600

Late Start Morning Hike - May 11th

Mark your calendars - we are planning a trip to Lower MacLeay Trail at 9am on Wednesday May 11th. It's a native forest along the Balch Creek. We will hike from the lower park (NW 29th Ave and Upshur St) along the river to the Stone House, or 'castle ruins', and back (about 1.6 miles round trip). For more information, check out this site:

http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Pittock_Mansion_Hike

Earth Week Pledges

During Earth week, each student had a chance to write down a pledge - something that they would try over the next year. Their pledges are now posted in the cafeteria (thanks to the wonderful volunteers Shannon, Cindy, Ada, Margot, and Torin). What small step will you try this year?

Photos of Rieke's Earth week pledges 2011

Happy Earth Day!

This week we collected hard and soft plastics usually can't be recycled in our curbside cans. Thanks to the Rieke community, we kept 20 huge bags of plastics out of the landfills!

Photos from the plastic drive

On May 4th, the Tryon Creek Rangers will be coming to the school assembly to talk to the students and help transfer the bags to Farwest Fibers.

Waste-Free Lunch Trash Audit

On April 20th we conducted another lunch waste audit to compare the results between a 'normal' lunch day and a 'waste-free' day. The school reduced their total waste by 19% and food waste by 33%! Here are the findings:

Photos of the waste audit

	Mar 11, 2011	Apr 20, 2011	% change
plastics	6	8	+33%
milk containers	10	9	-10%
food	48	32	-33%
styrofoam	4	6	+50%
total weight	68	55	- 19%

worst offenders:

37 unused spork containers

3-4 gallons of milk poured into the waste bin (next time will we weigh the wasted milk)

several untouched bananas/oranges but greatly reduced from the apples in the last audit

International Plastic Quilt Project

How much plastic do you use a week?

The Rieke EcoThink Club collected plastics from their homes for a week and created quilt squares for the International Plastic Quilt Project. The students did a great job and their quilt will be displayed at the school for the next two weeks. It helped us get ready for our plastic recycling drive next week.

Photos of the students quilt pieces