By Laura Rodell
The 27-year-old competition consists of three categories: Trashmasters! Reduce and Reuse Challenge, recognizing schools with innovative waste prevention practices; Trashmasters! Super Recyclers, recognizing schools with exemplary recycling programs; and Trashmasters! Team Up to Clean Up, recognizing schools that clean and beautify school and neighborhood. Borough and citywide winners are chosen by judges from the Education and Sanitation Departments. “One of the most important features of Sanitation's Golden Apple Awards is that it calls for an empirical rather than a conceptual approach,” said Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty. “In creating real-life projects, participating students gain the invaluable and rewarding experience of effecting positive change in their schools and communities.” David Porter School PS 94 was this year's borough and citywide winner in the elementary division of the Reduce and Reuse Challenge. Its approach to waste prevention incorporates reuse into every aspect of school life and its new technique for crafting pillows utilizes shredded paper and donated materials.P 233 @ Beach Channel High School, Rockaway Park, was declared borough and citywide winner in the high school division of the Reduce and Reuse Challenge. For its “Project PIGG: Phones, Ink, Gloves & Glasses,” students organized a drive to collect and donate useful second-hand items. Winners of borough competitions are Alexander Graham Bell School PS 205, Bayside, in the elementary division of Team Up to Clean Up; PS 224 @ 26Q, Bellerose, in the elementary division of Super Recyclers and Chris Galass School PS 47; and Broad Channel, in the intermediate division of the Reduce and Reuse Challenge.Runners-up in borough competitions are PS 87 Q, Fresh Meadows, in the elementary division of Team Up to Clean Up; David Porter School PS 94, Little Neck, in the elementary division of Super Recyclers; and Alexander Graham Bell School PS 205, Bayside, in the elementary division of the Reduce and Reuse Challenge.Notable mention went to Herbert G. Birch Western Queens ECC, Flushing, in the elementary division of the Reduce and Reuse Challenge. Citywide winners each receive $6,000 while borough winners receive $3,000 and honorable mentions receive $1,500. The City Council provided funding for the competition.
