Did you know that only 30% of households in America recycle!? Even worse only 10% of them compost? At New Vista High School, with the support of the Earth Task Force (ETF), we do things differently.

Every year ETF hosts the highly competitive Recycle Relay. This relay consists of a race in which the homeroom classes (called advisories at NVHS) compete against each other to see who knows the most about what is recyclable, compostable and what must tragically be sent to the landfill. An advisory scores points by putting the right item in the right bin. They must choose between: recycling, compost, and trash. The competition lasted two days and it was long and hard. People laughed and cried, they ran and walked, they guessed and if they paid attention they knew where the items went.

Every team tried hard to win but in the end there can only be one winner. The school called an assembly to announce the results and in the end the teacher whose class was the fastest and which had the most knowledge, was Joel’s advisory. “We never win anything!” remarked one of the students. “We are so excited.”

The winners received a hand-made trophy, crafted by the ETF and constructed of recycled goods. Their prize was a $50.00 check to spend in their homeroom. The trophy is theirs until their title is challenged during the recycle relay of Fall, 2013.

Written by student journalist Sassan Kermani

Earth Task Force (ETF) is a Cottonwood Institute-supported program at New Vista High School in Boulder, CO designed to give students an opportunity to take the lead to implement sustainability initiatives at their school.