Green Activities During the 2024-2025 School Year

Battery, Staples Recycling & TREX Drives are ongoing with onsite collection bins

Food Rescue U.S. Food Donation program is ongoing in cafeteria
Click here to Volunteer to be a Food Rescue Driver

Click here to Volunteer today!

Riverside Elementary School  is recognized as a CT Green Leaf School by the State of Connecticut's Outdoor Environmental and Educational Association (COEEA). A Green Leaf Banner honoring this accomplishment was presented to the school at the Earth Day 2019 assembly. This was a great collaboration between the PTA, the teachers, and the students, and we continue to strive to be an environmental leader in the district.

Connecticut Green LEAF Schools are schools that: provide effective environmental and sustainability education; improve the health and wellness of students and staff; and, reduce environmental impact and cost of the resources used in the school.

The Riverside Green Committee works to help uphold the values of the Connecticut Green Leaf Schools by running various initiatives through the year and encouraging Riverside students to participate in national events such as Walk to School Day, Bike to School Day, America Recycles Day as well as a full week of activities to celebrate Earth Day. We hope our program helps students form greener habits that continue at home as well as at school.

School-Based Sorting & Recycling Program

In the school cafeteria, students are asked to sort their lunches at the end of their lunch period. Using a built-in sorting station in the back of the cafeteria, students separate and sort their lunches by pouring out liquids and then placing remaining items into either a recycling, compost or trash bin. Students with school lunches also have the option to donate uneaten, unopened and unwanted food to Food Rescue U.S. by placing the items in a designated fridge. All students receive education on proper sorting and recycling multiple times throughout the school year by Green Committee volunteers. 

Battery Recycling Ensure you are disposing of old and/or used batteries by dropping them in the battery collection bin just inside Riverside’s front door. Throughout the year, the Green Committee takes the batteries to be recycled at the Holly Hill Recycling facility in Greenwich.		Halloween Costume, Boot & Coat Drive Thinking about Halloween costumes?  Need new boots and coats? Want to get rid of old costumes, boots, and coats? Riverside's Halloween Costume, Boot & Coat drive begins mid- to late October. Please check the Riverside Peek at the Week for specific details about the collection drive and offering of collected items.
Trex Plastic Film Recycling Challenge Riverside participates in the TREX Plastic Film Recycling Challenge. Students are challenged to collect and recycle polyethylene plastic film (i.e., stretchy plastic) over the school year for the chance to win high-performance Trex products. Collected plastic film is taken to participating community partners for proper recycling and logged via Riverside’s Trex account. *Individual families may also drop their plastic film in marked collection bins at participating local businesses (i.e., Kings, Balducci’s, Acme, ShopRite, Target).		Staples Recycling Program Through the Staples Recycling program, students and families can recycle old crayons, markers, pens, colored pencils and highlighters. A Staples collection bin is located inside the front doors and is regularly managed by the Green Committee.
Anti-Idling Campaign