A Montgomery County Public Schools official said Thursday she does not think schools will meet a county objective of recycling 50 percent of their waste by the year 2010, a goal originally set in 1992 for the year 2000.
Even with the extra decade, county schools are recycling an average of 28 percent of their waste across all facilities, according to schools environmental safety coordinator Lynne Zarate. Zarate said she thought the schools could realistically achieve a 42 percent rate by 2010.
“A goal is a goal, and we’re going to be working as hard as we can to get to that 50 percent rate,” Zarate said, “but we’re just not sure it’ll happen in that time.”
In comparison, county government facilities are recycling an average of 54 percent of their waste, but Zarate said schools have a tougher time because of the quantity of food waste generated at school facilities.
“A lot of our bottles and cans wind up in the trash because they still have some liquids in them and can’t be recycled like that,” Zarate said.
County Council Member Valerie Ervin said she is pleased with the school system’s recycling efforts.
“In comparison to other county agencies, they’re not doing so well but if you compare them to other county school systems, they’re going far beyond our neighboring jurisdictions,” she said.
Recycling rates greatly vary from school to school within Montgomery County: A June 2007 recycling report lists high school recycling rates ranging from 75 percent at Thomas Edison High School to 9 percent for Richard Montgomery High School.
“There is a broad variation because the schools are very much a product of the principal who runsthe school,” County Council senior legislative analyst Keith Levchenko said.
Study Results
» Food waste: 25.9 percent
» Recyclable paper: 15.9 percent
» Recyclable plastic containers: 3.8 percent
