While eating lunch with her children at school, Tracy Romzek was shocked to see how much of the meal was thrown out. Not just the food, but the things that could be recycled, like milk cartons. Romzek, 38, a Town of Menasha mother of two who has a master’s degree in environmental engineering, decided to research the best way to recycle the materials. Then, she talked to the school principal and school district officials. “I just saw something that could be done and chose to take action,” she said. Romzek admitted she didn’t know what it would take to get a milk carton recycling program started. But once she took action at Clayton, it opened the door to other recycling possibilities and, ultimately, other schools in the district. “It started as a carton thing but what it really turned out to be was cafeteria recycling,” she said, noting the program is currently implemented in all but one of Neenah’s elementary schools and at Horace Mann Middle School. She hopes to bring the program to Jefferson Elementary and Fox River Academy in Appleton. She signed up for recycling brigades with TerraCycle, a free waste collection program for hard-to-recycle materials. Clayton now collects dairy containers like yogurt tubs, drink pouches, Scotch tape dispensers, paper products, Solo cups, granola bar wrappers, cheese packaging and Lunchables containers, among other items. “That is waste being upcycled,” she said. “These are things that are not traditionally recycled.” Romzek also was awarded an environmental education grant from SCA Tissue, which allowed her to purchase containers and things needed for the recycling programs. She hopes to encourage the schools to get away from bagging the recyclables. The milk cartons, she noted, cannot be tied up in a plastic bag or they will rot. She also sought a local facility, Fox River Fiber in DePere, to take away the materials. “It’s pretty cool we have a local company that wants them,” she said. She sees recycling as a cost-saving measure for the district. “A third of the lunchroom waste is going into recycle rather than the garbage,” she said. “Recycling is cheaper to pick up than the garbage.”   Andrew Thorson, director of facilities and an engineer in the district, said he appreciates all Romzek has done.   “She’s very dedicated and she has a lot of energy to handle these things,” he said. “It’s very helpful to us that she can spend her time on that. We have the need but not necessarily the ability to do as much as she does.” Romzek also thinks the recycling programs educate the children. “A lot of these kids, once I showed them what can be recycled, they love it and they really try and they want to do the right thing,” she said, noting that by getting them “involved early on, they will care later.”

  Annually the group raises approximately $15,000 it puts towards different projects at the school, according to SPO co-chairman Jill Bercovitch-Blake. ... The SPO hosts two major fundraisers annually, a cookie-dough sale in the spring and the Muffin Meadow Contest, held at the JCS Fall Festival this past weekend. Other ways the group raises funds is through recycling juice pouches in conjunction with www.terracycle.net. They receive two to three cents for each pouch.  

This is about the time your favorite retailers – and loved ones – start dropping hints about shopping for the holidays so I figured I’d enter the fray with my list of The Top 15 Most Fabulous and Green Products of 2012. Hear why I think these items are fabulous and green, see pictures on my website and add these items to your list. And don’t worry about giving me credit when the giftee says “Ohhh, how thoughtful; this is perfect.” Noone has to know you heard it from me  A few hints to get your shopping juices flowing: 1. Nostalgic gift for the Baby Boomer on your list 2. Something for the person who’s been there/done that! 3. Perfect for the entrepreneur/systems person/orchestrator of world peace