I wanted to be the first to let the Carson Middle School community know that we have purchased three filtered hydration stations that will be installed at CMS over the upcoming winter vacation. The picture above is the exact model that will be installed in three central locations: 1) main hallway outside of the gym, 2) between the restrooms outside of the cafeteria, and 3) between the restrooms in the main office.
In addition to providing fresh, cold, filtered water for our school community we are excited that we will be doing our part to prevent disposable/recyclable plastic water bottles from filling up in local landfills. Our CMS Recycling Team does an excellent job and has has even expanded operations over the last year but we still find plastic bottles throughout the building on a daily basis that end up in our trash cans. Did you know that in 2012 only 9% of all plastic waste was recycled? That means that 91% of plastic waste ended up somewhere other than a recycling plant.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CMS?
Starting Tuesday, January 10 (returning from winter vacation) we will start imposing a ban on all disposable/recyclable plastic bottles. Our goal is to encourage all staff, students, parents, and visitors to take advantage of our hydration stations and to enjoy the benefits of the delicious water they will produce while doing our part as a school community in reducing plastic waste. We will have a "phase out" during the month of January in which we will be phasing out all disposable/recyclable plastic bottles as we begin communicating with all students, staff, and families about this new initiative in our school. During the phase out we will not collect any of the water bottles that are visible, but rather we will communicate information about our new hydration stations and request that re-usable containers be utilized in the future. We will continue with the phase-out until we have developed and established a culture supporting our new water initiative on campus.
Stay tuned for a school awareness campaign concerning water bottles and be on the lookout for official CMS water bottles that will be available as incentives for students. We are excited to bring these hydration stations to our school and look forward to establishing ourselves as leaders in responsible water consumption and plastic reduction.
