The Smallest Idea, can Make the Biggest Difference | Teen Ink

The Smallest Idea, can Make the Biggest Difference

January 2, 2010
By Weasels101 SILVER, Walnut, California
Weasels101 SILVER, Walnut, California
5 articles 0 photos 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”- Maria Robinson
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."- Thomas Edison


Recently in December, I informed a teacher at my Middle School of this idea that is cost effective and also saves the environment.
The idea was to recycle our school’s cardboard lunch trays by placing them on a recycling table after depositing the trash into nearby garbage cans.

The concept was to simply set up a collection point in the form of a school table in the most populated places of the lunch areas and surrounded them with trashcans for easier accessibility.
The table is surrounded by trash cans to deposit the food. The paper lunch trays piled on the tables.
At the end of the day, we were able to save around 640 lunch trays, the equivalent of filling four large garbage cans.
There are 180 school days in the school’s year of which around seven don’t offer a lunch period. If a school implemented this simple idea on the first day, this practice could save around over 110,720 recyclable trays each school year. If the six million students in California in its 9,900 schools used this practice it could save over 6,336,000 lunch trays per day or around 1,096,128,000 per year.



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This article has 63 comments.


Poinster said...
on Feb. 10 2010 at 12:43 am
Great idea! Well written report. Keep it up and the world will become a better place. It is wonderful when you have an idea and see it flourish.

Grace said...
on Feb. 10 2010 at 12:04 am
you are a smart kid

you may help this Earth a lot

keep going

grace

on Feb. 9 2010 at 8:51 pm
Weasels101 SILVER, Walnut, California
5 articles 0 photos 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”- Maria Robinson
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."- Thomas Edison

I wrote this a few days after my school started to use this idea. I also wrote it because my mom told me to. :)