Add one more to three R’s: Recycling

Lincoln Middle School introduced a student-designed cafeteria recycling system Monday that could be a model for reducing waste throughout Portland schools.

Superintendent Jim Morse joined students, school staff, parents and others at the school to kick off the pilot program.

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Portland Superintendent of Schools Jim Morse shows the amount of Styrofoam waste generated each day at Lincoln Middle School as part of the recycling program introduction. John Ewing/Staff Photographer

A student recycles a paper lunch tray Monday as Lincoln Middle School in Portland kicked off its cafeteria recycling pilot program. John Ewing/Staff Photographer

Students created a separation system for recycling paper-based lunch trays, milk cartons and other items.

The recycling program is a joint effort by the school district, Huhtamaki Packaging of Waterville, which donated several thousand trays made of recycled paper, and the KIDS Consortium of Auburn, which gave a $750 Green School grant for the project.

The idea of replacing the old trays with recyclable ones arose from a service-learning project at Lyman Moore Middle School.

Robert Lindsay, a science teacher at Lincoln, worked with his seventh-graders to design the recycling program.

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