Kudos!
Many thanks to Elizabeth Koether from Manhattan Middle School for pointing out that the BVSD was stocking goldenrod paper and recommending its removal. Many thanks go out to the BVSD warehouse staff and Matt Stewart for taking immediate action to remove most of our existing supplies of goldenrod, and committing to no longer stocking goldenrod paper.

Did you know?
Goldenrod, brightly colored and fluorescent paper are not recyclable because color is dyed throughout every fiber of the paper, making it difficult, if not impossible to remove during the recycling process. Even worse, these colors act as contaminates if recycled with recyclable colors (e.g. white and light colors). An analogy would be washing a load full of whites with one red sweater. If these colors end up in the recycling facility, they can jeopardize thousands of pounds of otherwise recyclable and ultimately reusable paper. (Eco-cycle)

What can you do?
When selecting paper, choose paper made from post-consumer recycled content, and choose colors that can be recycled. Also, avoid the large yellow/orange envelopes, which are the goldenrod color, and cannot be recycled.

Congratulations!
To Summit Middle School, Community Montessori and Louisville Elementary School for winning Eco-cycle’s 2009 “Zero Waste Award for Green Star Schools” and for recently joining the growing list of green star schools in our district.