Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty has announced the winners of the Department of Sanitation’s 2011 Golden Apple Awards, which recognize schools for completing educational projects on recycling, waste prevention, composting, and neighborhood beautification.
The annual competition (open only to K-12 schools in New York City) consists of three main contests: TrashMasters! Super Recyclers, showcasing model school recycling programs; TrashMasters! Reduce and Reuse Challenge, honoring innovative waste prevention practices; and TrashMasters! Team Up to Clean Up, which for more than three decades has encouraged city students to clean up and beautify their schools and neighborhoods. In addition, the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), founded and chaired by entertainer Bette Midler, recognizes and spotlights the most inspirational reclamation project with its Rose Award.
In each of the Golden Apple Awards contests, coordinated by the DSNY Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling, schools competed within their grade division (elementary, intermediate, or high school) for borough and citywide honors by conceiving and completing cross-curriculum projects that meet educational standards.
Also, the Department’s NYC Compost Project in each borough bestows the Golden Shovel Awards for outstanding indoor or outdoor composting efforts.
Teachers documented their students’ efforts, including lesson plans and educational standards met, as well as student essays, photos, drawings, and other classroom work. In addition, Super Recyclers contestants are inspected by DSNY Recycling Specialists. To receive an award, entries must exceed minimum score requirements (some categories did not produce a winner). This year for the first time, schools submitted their contest entries online.
Winning schools are awarded certificates of recognition, and participating students receive gifts, including Golden Apple Awards t-shirts and recycling beanie bins. The five citywide winners are honored with an engraved Golden Apple trophy. The three Master School Composters receive an engraved trophy of a golden shovel and compost pile.
“Teachers who enter the Golden Apple Awards help our city’s youngest citizens to understand their own civic and environmental responsibility through hands-on applied learning projects,” said Doherty. “The Department of Sanitation applauds the efforts of every student, teacher, principal, custodian, and parent who participated in the 2011 Golden Apple Awards.”
A partial list of the 2011 Golden Apple Awards winning schools and their projects follows (by contest, then by grade division and by borough). PDFs of the schools’ winning entries, and complete information about the contests, are posted on the Golden Apple Awards web page at www.nyc.gov/wasteless/goldenapple.
2011 Golden Apple Awards
TrashMasters! Super Recyclers
Elementary Division
Queens Borough Winner
P.S. 76Q William Hallet
36-36 10th Street
Long Island City, NY 11106
P.S. 76Q On to a Good Start – The teachers and students came together to start a recycling program: teachers used DSNY information in the classrooms; art projects from recycled items displayed throughout the hallways; information provided during faculty meetings; kick off with school assemblies; student "recycling officers" checked for proper paper recycling and collect deposit bottles to raise funds; progress publicly reported in school newspaper; principal met with recycling team every two months, and established rewards program for classes.
Queens Golden Shovel Award Winner
P 993 @ 208Q
74-30 Commonwealth Boulevard
Glen Oaks, NY 11362
The 3 Rs – Learning about Reducing, Reusing and Recycling: These students with special needs worked hard on about 15 waste prevention and reuse projects using a hands-on, visual format that all could understand and share with others. The school was chosen by the NYC Compost Project in Queens at the Queens Botanical Garden as Master School Composter for their step-by-step approach to composting in the classroom with a worm bin.
