East Strives to Recycle E-Waste

East has taken big strides to go green this year. Recycling programs have been expanded, and faculty members are making new efforts to conserve paper by storing documents digitally. They are doing this to try to lessen the school’s environmental footprint and save money.

The administration and faculty have begun sending any documents they can digitally rather than printing them out. This mainly applies to things like memos and newsletters that go out to a large number of people.

“[This new system has] helped us become a lot more aware of how much paper we used to go through and the different ways that we can reduce that,” principal John McKinney said.

According to McKinney, teachers, as well as the staff as a whole, are using less paper. The office and counseling center are using less as well by storing things digitally. The counseling center has made an effort to conserve paper by keeping and sending transcripts electronically and printing them only when necessary. In past years, they printed out copies of 15-page packets for college presentations. Now, they keep the information online for people who want to read them.

“We try not to reprint anything; it’s not easy though,” counseling center secretary Julie Curry said. “But I’m the Nazi in here about [conserving paper].”

Since not all documents can be kept on the computer, the faculty has begun printing at central locations to reduce the amount of ink used in printing large jobs. This means that all teachers are asked to print to the copy room. Faculty members in the office are asked to print to one central printer there.

Money that would have been spent on ink and paper was reallocated to funding the recycling and compost bins. Extra money is now being given to the Shawnee Mission East Love Fund, an organization that financially helps students or families here in the East area.

McKinney has received only positive feedback from faculty and parents about this increased use of technology. So has has Peggy Miller, a former East mom who runs the Lancer Alert emails and texts that go out to parents who sign up. Miller considers this extra communication another thing that evolved to help East go green. It saves paper that could be used to send home flyers with information for parents. According to Miller, sending it via email is more effective and environmentally friendly.

“Flyers often end up sitting in a backpack or just never getting to parents at all,” Miller said. “Sending [the information] electronically ensures that parents actually receive it and it cuts down on paper use.”

Overall, these changes have been implemented for the school to do everything it can for the environment and spread this message beyond the school. According to McKinney, these efforts to preserve the environment are relatively new to schools, but the ideas are spreading quickly.

“We never would’ve done [all this] when I was a kid,” McKinney said. “There’s been a gigantic change in the awareness and the understanding of conserving.”