Hi,

I'm B.J. Whitehouse, the general music teacher here at Wilbur/McMahon and our recycling coordinator.

Thanks to all who helped out on Earth Day. The school and grounds look great! Thanks to:

• Rick Peckham for his work on the sign garden!

• Kirk Whiting and his crew from the Sakonnet Golf Course

• Julie Hallgring for her weekly visits to help with recycling!

• Dee and Michael Medeiros for their generous donation of plants and shrubs

• Mr. Fennessey and Mr. DeLeo for their generous donations

• Sandy Farr

• The Little Compton Grange (Norma and Walter Elwell)

• Hope Taylor and the Little Compton Tree Commission

• Cheryl and Mat Cady

• Kristin Silvia

• All of the teachers, staff, parents and students who have have beautified the school!

The vermicomposting is going very well! There is a bin in the music room (worms love music) that Miss Bowley's first grade class helped set up. Third grade greenhouse girls have kept a close watch on the worms, too. We feed the worms scraps from the cafeteria and they provide for us - fertilizer!  

The students and staff at Wilbur/McMahon School take recycling very seriously.

In the past two years we have recycled 228 cubic yards of bottles, cans and cartons. That’s 28  8.2 cubic yard dumpsters full we’ve kept out of the landfill!

Here are some of things we do:

1. Recycle office paper. Each classroom and office has a green bin for white and colored office paper, manila folders, stickit notes and computer paper.

2. Cans, bottles, milk cartons and juice boxes - There are bins in the cafeteria and in many of the classrooms to collect these items. Presently, I drive them to the transfer station. We'd like to set a system with the town to transport our recyclables to the transfer station.

3. Plastic bags - You can bring your clean and dry plastic bags in the blue recycle bin in the lobby. The bags are transported to a local grocery where they are picked up by RI Resource and Recovery Corporation.

 4. Ink and toner cartridges - members of the PST collect these items that are taken to an office supply store for store credit.

5. Compost - we presently collect fruit rinds and cores in the cafeteria for the compost bin in the Kindercourt.

6. Cardboard - we have a dumpster for that material. 

Things We'd Like to See:

Currently, Little Compton is one of the few communities that does not have curbside recycling. So, that would be at the top of the list.

I'd like to see the cafeteria use reusable trays rather than the styrofoam trays we currently use.

We don't have simple newspaper/magazine recycling. I often take bundles to the transfer station. This would be part of the town's curbside recycling program.

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Let us know if you'd like to help!