A small state grant may have a big impact on recycling habits in Mount Pleasant.
The program is called, “Recycling is Elementary.” Its aimed at teaching elementary students about recycling in the hope that the behavior will become a habit.
The state has provided just over $3600 dollars to fund the recycling program It placed recycling containers in five school buildings in the Mt Pleasant district.
Central Michigan University is one of the organizations helping with the program. Officials there say schools will undergo waste audits three times throughout the school year.
Professor Tom Rohrer is the Director of the Great Lakes Institute for Sustainable Systems in CMU.
He said, “What we’re doing at each school is meeting with teachers and student leaders who are involved in the process and trying to get them excited about recycling and to normalize the process.”
Rohrer also said, “We have a couple of graduate students that are working through facilities management and are collecting the quantitative data and helping us with the project.”
He said they hope the program will be recognized by Governor Snyder’s Recycling Council in the spring. Rohrer hopes the project leads to more grant funding to grow the program further.