NEWS: Students get polystyrene banned

October 30, 2009
Winnipeg Free Press

Students told Louis Riel School Division to get rid of styrofoam -- and the adults listened.

Students from the division's high schools spent an afternoon last school year telling superintendent Terry Borys that the school division needed to get a whole lot greener, and fast.

"One of our students most frequently expressed concerns related to the use of polystyrene materials," Borys said. So they'll be gone from the division as of Jan. 1, he said.

"We encounter this material most frequently in coffee cups, meat trays and food containers," he said. The school board's newly adopted policy on regulation of non-recyclable materials is a guide for schools to set goals to eliminate or minimize use of such materials, Borys said.

That policy bans polystyrene, effective Jan. 1, eliminating polystyrene products from school and divisional purchases and its use within the division.

"We will eliminate polystyrene from use in school-based activities and the purchase of polystyrene with divisional funds. It is our hope that the power of staff modelling will support positive behavioural change," Borys said.

Louis Riel S.D. will identify other non-recyclable materials as "targets" for elimination, he said.

"School and divisional staff will not monitor students' possessions for polystyrene, similar to our nutrition policy, which prohibits selling carbonated beverages in schools, but does not have staff inspect student lunches," Borys explained.

 

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