Of the more than 550 public schools in this city, 53 have been certified as eco-schools, including several in the midtown area.
This is the second time the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has rated schools according to how eco-friendly they are.
In the 2003/4 school year, 13 schools qualified. This year 53 schools were certified, including Bedford Park Junior Public School, Morris Cody Junior Public School, Rosedale Junior Public School, John Fisher Junior Public School, Don Mills Middle School, George S. Henry Academy, Finch Public School and Yorkview Public School.
The latest results were announced in September of this year.
“A certification program helps schools set goals for improvement and formally recognizes schools that achieve excellent environmental protection,” said Richard Christie, program coordinator for eco-literacy and sustainable development for the TDSB.
To be certified each school must fill out an evaluation booklet, which awards points in different categories, and must back up any claims with documentation. For example, a school will gain points for having implemented a paper recycling program throughout the school or starting a butterfly garden on site.
Schools that obtain a certification are graded as a gold, silver or bronze eco-school.
All 53 of the certified eco-schools have achieved results in minimizing waste and conserving energy.
The TDSB hopes to achieve several goals by getting schools to be more environmentally friendly.
One goal is to have students and teachers not only learn and teach sound environmental policies, but to actually implement them in the school.
Another goal is to reduce costs. The more schools that implement policies that result in the reduction of energy and waste, the more money the TDSB saves on energy and waste collection bills.
According to the TDSB’s statistics, waste removal and disposal costs have risen by more than $2 million in the last two years. If the TDSB’s budget doesn’t increase accordingly, it must cover that increase by cutting back in other areas such as maintenance and cleanliness to make up the difference.
But as schools become more environmentally friendly they are able to reduce waste collection costs. The TDSB has been able to divert (on average) 42 percent of its waste that would have gone to landfills by increasing recycling efforts in schools, said Christie.
Another way schools are saving the environment and reducing costs is by becoming more energy efficient.
The TDSB has committed to reducing its consumption of natural gas by 15 percent and electricity by six percent by next August.
This is not easy to achieve for a board that runs many old schools that have old windows, roofs and boilers that are not energy efficient.
However, energy bills are being reduced as windows and roofs are being replaced with more energy-efficient alternatives, said Christie.
But in some cases energy costs are going down as a direct result of a school implementing initiatives that reduce energy consumption, such as turning off lights and computers when they are not being used.
Christie said the eco-schools certification program, which includes an energy audit, is the only of its kind in the English-speaking world.
|
|
Do you have something to say about this article? click here
Twitter
Also in the News
Our Readers' Feedback ( 0 )
Publication © Multimedia Nova Corporation 2010 |