• Aluminum can recycling
• Compost bin for organic material
• Ink cartridge recycling
• Used textile drive
• Waste-Free lunch days
• Newspaper or linen drive for animal shelter
• Recycled toy drive
• Procurement policy change: purchasing recycled-content supplies
• Reuse collections

LEAP

Leadership in Environmental Action Projects is a 5-12th grade student action program that reduces, reuses and recycles trash from schools and communities and to inform people about local solid waste and resource issues. LEAP uses student/community partnerships and cooperative learning to achieve these goals. For nine years, the St. Louis-Jefferson Solid Waste Management District, using landfill tipping fee surcharges, has funded LEAP.

One of the most important concepts that LEAP communicates to students and teachers is the difference between linear systems, which most man-made systems are, and cyclical systems, which all of nature's systems are. Our goal is to help people begin to appreciate the integral role of energy -- its use and conversion from one form to another -- and start to look at products as resources rather than as trash. Through participation in field trips, activities and projects, students begin to see the inefficiency and waste of a linear system vs. the benefits and practicality of cyclical systems.

What's In a School's Trash?

Students participating in LEAP are constantly involved in hands-on learning. They collect, measure and record the trash they generate in a day, and analyzing the composition of trash generated by the entire school. The following information was obtained from LEAP school Waste Assessment and depicts a typical school's trash.

How does a LEAP school reduce its waste?

LEAP participants conduct a Waste Assessment to determine the content of their school’s trash. Using this quantification tool, students interpret the results, then design and implement a waste reduction project that will continue throughout the year and beyond. The following chart illustrates the initial Waste Assessment results and the results of an audit conducted after the school recycled white paper for five months.

Before

After

The second audit shows 53% reduction in overall total solid waste!

Other LEAP Projects

• Aluminum can recycling
• Compost bin for organic material
• Ink cartridge recycling
• Used textile drive
• Waste-Free lunch days
• Newspaper or linen drive for animal shelter
• Recycled toy drive
• Procurement policy change: purchasing recycled-content supplies
• Reuse collections

If you’re interested in having LEAP in your school, contact the EarthWays Center.

Click here for contact information.