Look at these facts:

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours -- or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.

To produce each week's Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.

The average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees. This amounts to about 2,000,000,000 trees per year!

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.

The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.

All of us should educate ourselves on the methods we can use to Recycle-Reduce-Reuse.

Thanks to Mrs. Kitty Zurkowski, St. Paul of the Cross School has received a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Bureau of Energy and Recycling. This grant was issued under the Illinois Zero Waste School Program.

As recipient of the grant, the following steps have been put into place:

• Six energy efficient hand dryers were installed in school bathrooms
• Paper recycling bins have been placed in all classrooms and offices in both school buildings.
• A two-sided paper policy has been established for classroom, office and for school notices sent to St. Paul families.
• Reduction of paper and plastic product usage by faculty and staff, through the purchase of grant approved utensils, reusable plates and cups, and installation of an energy efficient dishwasher in the faculty lounge, was instituted at the beginning of the 07-08 school year.

As part of St. Paul of the Cross's Going Green Kick-Off, two different speakers have come to our school to help educate our students about recycling.

On Monday, October 29, Mary Allen from SWANCC gave an assembly to the students in grades five through eight.

Ms. Allen and students during the assembly

Items that can be recycled	Mary Allen and Mrs. Zurkowski

On Tuesday, October 30, "Ricky Recycle" will entertain while educating the lower grades about the benefits of recycling.