Chatsworth Elementary Recycles

by Julia Steinmetz

(June 5, 2008) Earlier in the year, Chatsworth Elementary student Victor Odouard was reading in his Time Magazine for Kids about recycling plastics and paper in schools. He thought to himself, “Hey, those things are not being recycled at our school,” and decided to take action. He wrote a letter urging that Chatsworth do its part.

The response to Victor’s letter was overwhelmingly positive. His 4th Grade teacher, Melissa Arena, suggested that he read it to the class. The students liked it so much they wanted to add their names to it, and even some of the teachers signed on. Then Victor (in photo at left) delivered the letter to Principal Steve Castar and talked to him about his idea.

Not long thereafter, Frank Lopes, head custodian at the school, received notice that Westchester County required recycling and would increase enforcement come February. Mr. Lopes responded by buying recycling bins for the entire school including all the classrooms, plus larger receptacles in the hallways used as gathering points for materials. The bins “get the kids involved and make it easier to collect the materials,” Mr. Lopes explained. He reported that the response to the recycling initiative has been effective. “There is high participation and it’s working out well.”

Support for the recycling effort came from Head Custodian Frank Lopes (center) along with Sally Maca (left) and Millie Magraw (right) of Planet Chat.

Westchester County was sufficiently impressed to award Chatsworth special recognition as an outstanding Westchester Wastewise School on Earth Day, April 13.

In addition to the work of Victor and Mr. Lopes, the school’s environmental committee, dubbed Planet Chat, has been helping Chatsworth go green. Sally Maca said that “the organization’s origins are murky,” but thought it was started years ago by Jan Feinman and Abby Graubard.

Currently, Sally Maca, Millie Magraw, Liv Grey, Lori Stevenson, Caren Gerszberg, Kim Collado and Jill Steinberg, all mothers of Chatsworth students, have taken the lead on various projects. For example, they gave educational talks to 17 of the 30 Chatsworth classes about recycling and landfills. Ms.Grey submitted an application to Westchester County for the “plant-a-bulb/change-a-bulb” initiative that resulted in an award for the school. There have also been plant-a-tree and recycled art projects, plus information posted and sent home to inform parents and caregivers about the Village of Larchmont’s new anti-idling legislation. Still to come is a project that encourages children to donate extra and unwanted school supplies to children who need them in Nicaragua.

The goals of Planet Chat are two-fold: to increase energy efficiency within the building, e.g. through programmable thermostats and green purchasing, and, as stated by Ms. McGraw, “to educate the students on how to become concerned environmental members of society.”

For now, Victor is happy with the progress at Chatsworth. “I think it’s great our school won a recycling award. Everyone is recycling and everyone cares about it.”

Julia Steinmetz is a member of the Larchmont Village Environmental Committee.

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