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Helmers Elementary Going Green With Trash-Free Lunch Program

Students and staff at Helmers Elementary are working to save the environment with the “Grades Of Green” program, which challenges schools to encourages trash-free lunches.


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Volunteers at Helmers have dedicated their lunchtime to supporting the nonprofit by taking on the one week challenge designed to decrease the amount of trash produced during lunch periods at schools across the United States.

Sheri Budhu, a parent volunteer at Helmers, was was the first to hear about the program to reduce waste, and wanted to bring it to Santa Clarita Valley schools.

“We have what we call our ‘green team’ here at Helmers,” said Budhu. “They help all the kids sort the trash at lunch. We’ve gone from seventeen bags of trash down to consistently three or four bags every day. It’s pretty amazing.”

In addition to sorting garbage, students are learning how to pack a trash-free lunch by replacing snack size products with reusable containers for food and drinks, Budhu said.

Students K-6 at Helmers are all participating either by volunteering during their lunch break or by learning how to pack trash-free and recycle at home.

“The whole school is involved, my green team leaders are fifth and sixth graders (who) run the recycling program,” said Budhu. “We have all ages of sorting volunteers (who) come on a certain day to help sort trash.”

Grades of Green is a national program that awards classes and schools that reduce waste with   science kits, reusable water bottles and containers.

Students who pack a trash-free lunch are given a paper heart to color and write their name on it. These hearts are placed on the Grades of Green wall to keep track of who is going green.

The class with the most hearts on the wall by the end of the program, in March, will be awarded the prizes and recognized as the greenest class in the school. After the contest, volunteers hope to have system in place to continue going green efforts and make trash reducing methods a tradition at Helmers.

Student volunteers have been giving up their lunch break to support the program that will in turn reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfills, which, according to student volunteers, makes the participants feel good.

Ella Freed, a student volunteer, has been encouraging the program throughout the school.

“We used to be with seventeen bags of trash and all that trash goes to landfills, which is not a very good thing,” said Freed. “Our job is to make sure everyone know where to put their trash so that they don’t put recycling in the trash or trash in the recycling.”

By reducing trash production from seventeen bags down to three bags per day, the green team at Helmers has proven the Grades of Green program’s effectiveness, she said.

“I think our school is going to be cleaner since there is less trash,” said Freed. “The green team program has inspired many people to stop bringing plastic bags and start bringing containers.”

Anyone interested in more information about the Grades of Green program or would like to implement one at their local school can click here.

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Helmers Elementary Going Green With Trash-Free Lunch Program

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About Gilbert Bernal

Gilbert A. Bernal Jr. has been part of the KHTS video department since Jan 2017. He was hired as video editor in June 2017 after his four-month internship in the video department. While serving as a video intern, his duties were extended to become a multimedia journalist, producing news videos for KHTS News and Features. Gilbert was added to the KHTS team as part of the station’s continued growth and expansion. An Army veteran, father and local artist Gilbert has dedicated time and energy to volunteering at schools in the Santa Clarita Valley. At Pinetree Community Elementary School, in Canyon Country, Gilbert donated art for school auctions, photographed events and painted murals. At Canyon High, he gave two art demonstrations for the “Yes I Can” organization, a peer counseling class that focuses on learning about disabilities, social inclusion, and tolerance. Starting in Feb 2017 Gilbert launched the “KHTS Man On the Street” video features which gather and reports local opinion of Santa Clarita residents on current issues or events. A return student at College of the Canyons since 2014, Gilbert has been apart of the Media Entertainment Arts department working as a college assistant. After enrolling into the film program in 2014, he was hired to work in the camera equipment room (The Cage). There he helps students with film equipment rentals and technical advice. Gilbert received his associates degree in Film Production from College of the Canyons in 2017. He is continuing his educational path and plans to attend CSUN in Fall 2018 to work for a Bachelor's degree in Film.