OGDEN -- No longer are the students at Lincoln Elementary School just learning about recycling. Now they are really doing it.
As part of a pilot program for Utah Cooperative for Acquiring Resources Efficiently, an organization made up of 14 school districts that banded together, Lincoln Elementary School is home to a thermo compactor that will change the way the school uses its Dumpster.
"We're excited to have it here," said Cheryl Rankin, who is in her fifth year as principal at the school. "The kids are learning about recycling, and this is a chance for them to use what they've learned."
Technically, it is still just a temporary home for the unit, but that could soon change. Gray Reed, director of support services for Ogden School District, said the district opted for a two-week trial to see how the machine worked before they paid the money to buy it.
The machine will cost $9,700, and will likely increase the school's power bill by $30-$40 per month.
"If it worked and people feel really comfortable about it, then we will go ahead and purchase this machine and keep it at Lincoln," Reed said. "Then, as my budget allows, we will start putting them at other schools. The goal would be to have one at every school."
After eating their lunch, the students dump the contents of their trays into the trash, and then put the Styrofoam trays on a tray stacker. After lunch, Mike Henderson, the head custodian, removes the trays and at the end of the day puts them in the machine.
Henderson said the process is a bit time-consuming. However, if the machine stays, he expects that to change.
"Once the kids all get trained and used to it, it will be faster," Henderson said.
The students like the idea of having the machine in their school, and they are quick to point out the importance of recycling.
"It used to be 18 bags that were taken to the dumpster, now the bags have been cut in half and we're not using space in the landfills," said fourth-grader Jonathan Kinsella, 10. "It's good because you know that you're helping the environment."
Robert Cargeeg, of Western Recycling Technologies, who is selling the machine to the Ogden School District, said that Lincoln uses about 850 trays per day. When the machine is done with its work, which takes close to eight hours throughout the night, all those trays are reduced to a 30-inch by 5-inch block. As part of the $100 per month service agreement between Western Recycling Technologies and the Ogden School District, Cargeeg said they pick up the block.
From there, they can either recycle that block into different garden products, which will be given back to the school to sell as a fundraiser, or convert it into bio fuel.
Most importantly, Cargeeg said, the waste does not go into landfills.
"I think it's awesome because it helps save the planet," said fourth-grader Alyssa Higgs, 9. "Most of it can be recycled and people just throw it away and don't know it can be recycled."
Cargeeg and his business partner Paul Buchi, who were both born and grew up in Davis County, said the machine is being used at several schools in the east. Usually, they said, the machines pay for themselves in the first year with the savings in dumpster fees.
"We've reduced the amount of trash that they're putting in their dumpster," Cargeeg said. "It's going to be a real large savings for them, but better than that we're preserving the environment by not putting those Styrofoam trays in the landfills any further."
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