In the 2009 spring semester Vero Beach Elementary activated a recycling program in the classrooms.  In addition to paper and plastic collection, each class saved their used crayons and pencil shavings.  The student government expressed concern that pencils and trees were going to waste in their classrooms so they installed a canister in each room to collect the shavings at the end of the day.  From January until May they collected 7.5 pounds of pencil shavings!  This is an estimated 504 pencils that were collected and distributed for compost and mulch to local gardens instead of being dumped in the landfill. 

Keep Indian River Beautiful would like to thank the Vero Beach Elementary student government for including us in their recycling efforts and we can’t wait to help out next year!