Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contacts: Linda Countryman, 651-215-0269 Emily Moore, 651-215-0201 Laurie Gustafson, 651-215-0230 Saint Paul, Minn. -- Pine Point Elementary on the White Earth Reservation, Houston Public Schools and Hutchinson High School took part in a recently finished pilot project to develop a healthier, more sustainable work and study environment in schools. The pilot projects were part of a $40,000 grant to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "The Healthy Schools project shows how even simple, low cost changes in the way a school operates can make a school's environment healthier, model environmental stewardship and save the district money," said Linda Countryman, MPCA Healthy Schools Grant Administrator. Preliminary results of the project include:
· Houston Elementary Schools recovered 3.75 tons of recyclable materials out of its normal waste stream in the first four months. Both the elementary and high schools will save money in their waste hauling contracts for next year.
· Pine Point and Houston chose a single "green" product for general cleaning and disinfecting, replacing five other more toxic cleaning products. Hutchinson High School experimented with steam cleaning, eliminating all cleaning chemicals.
· Houston schools' "no-idling" policy for buses not only stopped unnecessary idling at the curb, but earned praise from neighbors and teachers who appreciated the new peace and quiet - a double win for the community.
"Teaching these children, our next generation, to be environmentally conscious is our responsibility. If we want to give them the best [place to live] let's start with a clean, healthy, physical environment," said Todd Lundberg, Houston High School Principal. Goals of the project included switching to less toxic cleaning materials, reducing kitchen waste, improving energy efficiency, reducing school bus emissions, modifying pest management practices, collecting wastes for composting and recycling, removing mercury and other hazardous wastes from the schools, and measuring potential improvements to student health and education. Each school had a dedicated site coordinator and staff leader. Other agencies and organizations joined in to help make the project a success including the Minnesota Departments of Health, Education and Agriculture, Clean Air Minnesota, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Preventing Harm Minnesota. The Donaldson Company donated a diesel bus retrofit kit to each school. This contribution benefited the environment, and it also provided a model for developing protocols for installing diesel retrofits. The MPCA will use the protocols later as part of project "Green Fleet," which will retrofit 500 Minnesota school buses by 2007. The MPCA's mercury-detecting dog, Clancy, visited all three schools to sniff out hidden mercury spills. The big surprise was uncovering a mercury-leaking blood pressure cuff in the nurse's office of a newly-built elementary school. For more information about the project, visit http://www.healthyschools.state.mn.us Checklist for a healthy and sustainable school
· Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the building(s) to determine current systems and operations of the building(s) and equipment.
· Identify the benefits and best practices for integrated pest management.
· Select the least toxic and most effective cleaning agents, disinfectants and maintenance supplies.
· Reduce kitchen waste and improve student nutrition.
· Remove unsafe chemicals from laboratories and establish better management of chemicals overall, and examine other possible sources of hazardous waste.
· Identify and remove mercury from the school.
· Reduce diesel bus emissions.
· Identify ways to reduce paper use.
· Collect food and paper waste from all areas of the school for composting.
· Collect all other recyclable waste for recycling.
· Establish a means of measuring student health effects before and after project implementation.