Phoenix school wins ecology prizes

• Phoenix students focus on recycling plastic bottles, bags
• Campus sees big reduction in tossing away of bottles
• Kids collect plastic bags from home for proper recycling

When seventh-grader Aidan Rowland recycled, it was hit-or-miss until this school year, when an elective science class turned him into an advocate of preserving the planet.

The All Saints' Episcopal Day School student watched his classmates drink from plastic water or energy-drink bottles and never gave much thought to the empties tossed into the trash. Aidan, 13, also didn't know plastic grocery bags had the power to jam sorter machines at the city's waste transfer stations, causing delays that cost millions of dollars.

Part of Aidan's class was educating his peers about how improperly disposed plastic bottles can harm the environment and the importance of recycling plastic bags properly.

In hindsight, Aidan believes the class, called the Green Team, changed him.

"I'm a lot more conscious about the environment and what I can do for other people to prevent harm, too," he said. "But I never expected our ideas to win in a contest for conserving the planet."

This is a story about how a group of All Saints' teenagers, including Aidan, created eco-friendly ideas, implemented their plans and won big money in a national contest. The Eco Tigers, the name the students gave their team, bested dozens of middle schools nationwide.

The challenge

The book publisher Scholastic, which has provided books, magazines and educational programs to schools and families for 90 years, sponsors the contest. The Lexus Eco Challenge is designed forsixth-grade to high-school students across the country.

Students are asked to make a difference in the health of the Earth.

The first two parts of the challenge are divided into two subjects between September and January: land/water and air/climate. The final challenge involves 32 teams, winners from the first two portions of the contest. A total of $500,000 in prizes is distributed: $10,000 each to 16 land/water teams and 16 air/climate teams, $15,000 each to eight first-place final-challenge teams and $30,000 each to two grand-prize winners.

Alexis Marsden, an All Saints Episcopal School middle-school science teacher, learned about the Scholastic challenge on the Internet and added it to her Green Team lesson plan for 2013-14.

When students returned to school, at 6300 N. Central Ave., from summer vacation, they dove into the land/water project in September.

The Eco Tigers' first idea focused on how to eliminate plastic bottles on campus. They targeted an All Saints' parent association's weekly event, which consisted of pizza, dessert and bottled juice as a treat for students. After each event, many bottles were left on campus. The Eco Tigers recommended the use of recyclable cups and a drink dispenser. The parents agreed.

By the time the Tigers submitted their project to the Scholastic challenge in October, the campus was nearly free of plastic bottles. They won $10,000, of which $1,000 was donated to St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance. The students also spent about $800 on a new beverage dispenser for the campus, replacing plastic juice bottles.

Marsden said the students also ordered three water-bottle filling stations. They have not arrived yet but should further reduce plastic-bottle use on campus, she said.

The Eco Tigers were also tasked with educating teachers, parents and students about the process of recycling. Aidan remembers some students believed "plastic bottles went into the recycle bin, to the recycle plant ... and out popped out another bottle." He said some also were surprised to learn that if plastic ages too long, it can't be recycled.

The Eco Tigers passed on the air/climate portion of the contest because the deadlines were too compressed.

The final challenge

The group was ready in January when it entered the final challenge with a new topic. It involved educating the school community about the proper disposal of plastic bags and repurposing them into new products.

The Tigers took a trip to Phoenix's North Transfer Station, where they watched a machine sort recyclables. Plastic bags tangled up the machine, shutting down the process.

The students researched plastic bags and then educated the rest of the school. The second time around, the Eco Tigers found it easier to communicate their message — their first win had earned them credibility with their peers, Aidan said.

When they started a plastic-bags collection, which allowed other students to bring bags to campus from home, the response was huge.

This project required the Tigers to take the plastic bags to a Bashas' grocery store at Seventh and Missouri streets each month, where they were collected in a large truck. The truck hauls them to the grocery chain's central bag station for proper recycling or reuse.

The plastic-bags project was submitted in February to the Lexus Eco Challenge's final round. Students learned about their first-place win in March, which earned them a $15,000 prize.

The Eco Tigers donated about $1,500 to a school in Haitithat needed a drinking well.

The students also are exploring using some of the money to purchase recycling centers that would gather trash, plastic bottles, plastic bags, paper, cardboard and cans. And some students are using the prize money to cover tuition or as savings for high-school or college expenses, Marsden said.

"It's been a lot of work filled with high energy and high activity," she said.