Ben Franklin Students Are Eco-Friendly

Ben Franklin recently won the prestigious Eco-School USA green flag award. 

This top level award was given to Ben Franklin for achievement in conserving natural resources and integrating an educational curriculum in grades K-3.  They are the only public school in New Jersey to win this distinction. 

In order to be considered a green flag candidate, schools must submit an application detailing the actions they have taken to satisfy The National Wildlife Federation’s EcoSchool’s criteria.  Ben Franklin satisfied these requirements through it’s recycling, wildlife conservation, and environmental stewardship programs.

At Ben Franklin the recycling program is vast.  “Trash Free Tuesdays” reduces waste during the school day.  Milk carton recycling takes place daily.  Ben Franklin alone recycles 30,000 milk cartons (the equivalent to 800 pounds of trash) per year.  The school is also replacing its Styrofoam lunch trays with 100 percent biodegradable cornstarch trays.  This implementation will result in a reduction of 34,000 trays per year, equivalent to twice the height of the Empire State building.  Finally, "EPA student representatives” collect trash from the classrooms daily and monitor water usage to assure that they are reaching their conservation goal. 

The children are practicing wildlife conservation by maintaining a trout tank.  The children are responsible for measuring the pH in the tank and feeding the fish daily.  When the trout reach maturity they will be released into a New Jersey stream or lake.  Ben Franklin also formed an after-school program called “Stream Keepers.” This educational program focuses on conserving natural resources by observing, comparing, and documenting the land and water ecosystems.

Lastly, in an effort to make their school more sustainable, Ben Franklin created a SNAP (Science, Nature, Artist, Pondering) space. The students have grown beans and potatoes in their classrooms, which will be placed in the space.  Flowers, herbs, and vegetables have been and will continue to be planted by the students in the space.  To support growth, the children extract “Worm tea” from composte and add to their garden. This space provides an excellent environment to learn and practice environmental stewardship.

Eco School empowers students and faculty to raise awareness to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We all need to practice the Ben Franklin Elementary School mission “Take care of the environment, by learning, doing, and sharing.”  As one faculty member said “It is all of our responsibility; we are the change.”

An award ceremony took place on April 26 to celebrate Ben Franklin’s accomplishments.  In attendance were James Kownacki (Mayor of Lawrence), Juston Harris (U.S. EPA Washington DC), Irene Nielson (U.S. EPA N.Y. Region), Curtis Fischer (National Wildlife Federation Representative), Lisa Barile (PSEG Power Outreach Specialist), Donna Drewes (Co-Director Sustainable New Jersey), Brian Hughes (Mercer County Executive), Pat Colavita (Mercer County Freeholder), Councilwoman Pam Mount, Andrew Zuckerman (Lawrence Township Director of Instructional Services), and Dr. Crystal Edwards (Lawrence Township Public Schools Superintendent).  The ceremony included a school-wide assembly, a butterfly bush dedication ceremony in the SNAP space, and guest speaker classroom visits.  

—Lawrence School District