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Student urges Verona schools to restart recycling program, cites data on paper and plastic waste
Summary
A Verona elementary student told the school board she wants recycling restarted across elementary schools, citing per-student paper waste figures and proposing labeled bins, student green teams, signage and a township partnership to reduce contamination.
A Verona elementary student, who identified herself at the meeting as Bridal Aloyo, asked the Board of Education on June 12 to restart recycling programs in the district’s elementary schools.
Standing at the podium, Bridal Aloyo outlined numbers to show potential impact: she said the average school throws away "38 pounds of paper per student" per year and that an average school uses more than 2,000,000 sheets of paper annually; she argued that recycling could save trees and energy. "If every student recycles just 1 water bottle a day, we can keep thousands of bottles out of the trash every year," the student said, urging the board to partner with the township and to install sorting lids, signage and student representatives to minimize contamination.
Board members and the superintendent praised the student’s leadership and said they would explore next steps. The board president said she would reach out to the mayor to coordinate with the township; staff noted past contamination had made recycling unsustainable but said the program could be relaunched with better bins, lids and education to reduce contamination.
The presentation prompted several comments from board members praising the student’s initiative and offering to connect with township officials. No formal action or funding vote was taken at the meeting; the superintendent said she would follow up with township contacts.
