Boston School Forest and Boys & Girls Club of Portage County have been selected as a 2017 Cellcom Green Gift recipients.

Boston School Forest received a $750 Green Gift from Cellcom to enhance the recycling program at its facility, while Boys & Girls Club received a $1,550 Green Gift from Cellcom to support its Teen Power electronics recycling program.

Boston School Forest

“The primary excuse people give for not recycling is that recycling isn’t convenient or accessible to them. Recycling is a behavior that every person can incorporate into their lives and by using our lunch recycling program, Boston School Forest tries to show students and adults what they can recycle in their daily lives and where they can recycle the items,” said Karla Lockman program leader at the Boston School Forest.

“Our main goal is to get them thinking about how each and every one of them have the responsibility to reduce waste in landfills and save energy.”

The Green Gift from Cellcom will help Boston School Forest purchase new bins for the recycling program. The bins facilitate the recycling and, more importantly, the discussion. Each student in 4K through 10th- grade in the Stevens Point School District visits the Boston School Forest every year. During their lunch period on the visit, every student hears how landfills work, how recycling works, the energy saved through recycling and how items can be repurposed. This small and consistent effort aims to create a habit the students can take home.

“We have been recycling 11 items for the past five years and we see more items go to the recycling bins instead of the trash every day; our recycling bins are consistently fuller than our trash,” said Lockman. “The bigger impact of the program is when we have kids telling us they started compost bins at home or increased the recycling at home due to the awareness and knowledge they learned at the forest.”

Boston School Forest was among 30 green organizations that received a share of the $40,000 in Green Gifts from Cellcom this year.

To read the rest of the story, pick up a copy of the Portage County Gazette at one of the many newsstands in the area, including gas stations and grocery stores. Or subscribe at shopmmclocal.com/product/portage-county-gazette/ to have weekly copies delivered by mail.

For more information or to subscribe over the phone, call 715-343-8045.