Jill Booth, 4^th grade teacher at Johnson Elementary School (Fort Thomas, KY), requested assistance in developing a recycling program at her school. The driving question is how to educate students of Johnson Elementary about the importance of recycling, reusing, and reducing the amount of solid waste produced and motivate them to participate.

The Campbell County Extension Agent for Natural Resources and Environmental Management provided educational sessions on composting and recycling on November 29, 2022, to 74 fourth grade students that are leading the effort. The Extension Service provided a compost bin, recycling bin and containers and suggested reaching out to other community partners. Ms. Booth followed with an email, “Thank you so much for visiting the 4^th grade classrooms at Johnson Elementary yesterday! Your presentation on recycling, reusing, landfills, and composting was extremely impactful and crucial to the development of our projects focused on minimizing the amount of solid waste our school produces. The students are most excited about starting the compost with our cafeteria scraps. Through your presentation they were able to make connections between what they eat, the amount of energy that food gives them nutritionally, and how eating those specific foods can affect the environment where we live. Who knew that 4^th graders could grasp such complicated content! They already have tons of ideas to manage the composting project and share their knowledge with the community. The donation of the compost bin to our school is a precious gift and learning tool that we plan to start using as soon as next week. Your knowledge and expertise never cease to inspire curiosity and passion in our students, and I look forward to many more collaborative opportunities.”

The school was successful in working with the Extension Service, Rumpke Waste and Recycling, Cincinnati Recycling and Reuse Hub, and Kroger to reduce the amount of solid waste the school produces. They begin in January 2023, the teacher indicated through a written testimonial, “In two weeks, we have been able to keep 1,527 gallons of waste out of our landfill! It's been AMAZING!! We will continue recycling every day and can't wait to see how much we can recycle for the rest of the school year. We are so grateful for your partnership in helping us attain these recycling containers!”

Beth Sketch, Environmental Science teacher at Newport Central Catholic High School (Newport, KY), requested help from the Extension Agent in developing a recycled bottle greenhouse to reduce plastic waste, create an environmental learning resource for students, and to display the benefits of healthy agricultural practices for students and staff. The project was successful by joining about 20 students from the vocational and environmental science classes. The students were successful in collecting 1500, 2-liter bottles at the Homecoming Dance and at the school through the year. Environmental stewardship project funding from the Extension Service assisted with other building materials like framing and fasteners, soil and mulch for the recycled greenhouse that was completed in June 2023.