The Office of Sustainability Schools Program offers a variety of services and resources for school administrators, teachers, and facilities staff to support reducing waste on campus and to inspire young people to take action at home. 

Our free educational offerings include:

• Assistance with developing a unit plan of study in resource conservation, the 4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot-Compost), and zero waste.

• 5E resource conservation and waste reduction lesson plans with step-by-step instructions and student activity sheets aligned to Next Generation Science Standards.

• In-person and virtual K-12th grade interactive classroom presentations and assemblies on the 4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot - compost), worm composting, waste reduction, and plastic pollution prevention.

• Student-facing activities by borrowing our reuse kits such as making a tote bag from old T-shirts and building solar ovens with reusable boxes. 

• Online interactive and in classroom 4R's Unit Games

• Assistance with becoming a certified Green Star School classroom based on the actions that students can take at school or at home.

Has your school’s green team or environmental club talked about starting a waste reduction campaign on campus in preparation for the new school year?

If so, here are some helpful steps:

• Contact your hauler (garbage, recycling, and composting service company) to determine the recycling, compost, and garbage service levels at your school.

• Do a waste assessment to check out if the correct items are in the recycling, compost, and landfill bins and whether or not they are properly positioned and labeled on campus.

• Based on the waste assessment, determine what is needed to implement changes on campus such as increased recycling and composting service levels, additional signage and bins, and the placement of the bins. For example, the recycling, compost, and landfill bins should be placed next to one another.

• Contact school administration for approval and to request change of recycling and composting service levels from the hauler if needed. 

• Contact either the hauler, school district, and/or local government organization such as the Office of Sustainability or RethinkWaste (if in their service area) for additional signage and bins if needed.

• Once the proper bins, signage, and service levels are in place, the education begins. The green team or club can hold in-classroom presentations, create video clips and posters, participate in daily announcements, etc. to educate their peers about recycling, composting, and reducing waste on campus. 

If you have questions or would like additional information about starting a waste reduction campaign at your school, please contact us at smcsustainability@smcgov.org. 

If you are a middle school or high school teacher planning to teach climate science the following school year, check out the Youth Exploring Climate Science (YECS) Program. 

This program provides no-cost climate science educational resources to middle and high schools across San Mateo County. It empowers students to explore why the climate crisis is happening, what and who will be impacted, and how individual actions can tackle climate change to protect our communities. Special programming is available to focus on sea level rise (Youth Exploring Sea Level Rise Science) and wildfire (Youth Exploring Wildfire Science). Programming is available in-person, virtually or as a hybrid for your students.

For access to the YECS Program Curriculum and technical support to integrate this curriculum in your classroom: Contact Kamille Lang at klang1@smcgov.org to schedule.  

Learn more about the YECS program here: https://seachangesmc.org/yecs/ .

The Office of Sustainability has teamed up with San Mateo County Libraries (SMCL) educators on how to use our STEM Reuse Kits. The objective of these kits is to have students explore how to reuse everyday items to invent and create something new. Through this training, SMCL educators are prepared on how to facilitate the following interactive projects for middle schoolers through their summer STEM Series program:

• Bottle Cap Art: Collecting Small to Create Big

• CD Spinners: Turning Obsolescence into Exploration, Innovation, and Empowerment

• Recycled Papermaking: Sending Notes of Biodiversity to Our Local Environment

• Solar Oven: Capturing and Transferring Solar Energy

• T-Shirt to Totes (and Toys): Rethinking Fast Fashion

• 4R’s Unit Games: Waste Diversion Systems at Work Today

The Office of Sustainability has also prepared a comprehensive guide for the reuse kits above, which you can find by clicking this link. The guide includes resources for preparing and facilitating each activity, thorough instructional videos, and common questions. 

If you are interested in booking the same workshops for your school or district or you would like to borrow our kits with lesson plans for your classroom this fall semester, please let us know at smcsustainability@smcgov.org. 

Do your students, or even you, have broken electronics, toys, and appliances?

• If so,  bring them by the FIXit Clinic for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. Workspace, tools, and expert guidance will be provided to help you disassemble, troubleshoot & maybe even fix your item. Here are the details for the next workshop:

Date: July 19, 2023

Time: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Location: Redwood City Public Library, Downtown

Registration link: https://www.smcsustainability.org/climate-change/sustainability-academy/fixit-clinic/

Wondering What Goes Where at the End of the School Year?

With the school year ending, we know you likely have a pile of items in your classroom or school that you may want to dispose of. Disposing of those items can be tricky at times. So, the Office of Sustainability is here to help! Explore our resources below to navigate how to dispose of items properly. If you have questions or would like more support, you can always contact us at sustainability@smcgov.org or call our hotline: (888) 442-2666

1. Search Engine for Where to Recycle What (RecycleStuff.org).

2. Office of Sustainability Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Guide.

3. Donate unused or otherwise in working condition classroom supplies to local nonprofits like RAFT (Resource Area for Teaching). You can also participate in RAFT's program when looking for supplies for the upcoming school year! 

The Office of Sustainability’s Surplus Property Program aims to find ways to beneficially reuse surplus equipment from the County of San Mateo departments such as furniture, office supplies, and much more. Retired property is posted online for auction on GovDeals. Unlike the general public, school administrators and teachers can request items FREE OF CHARGE. This can be done before the auction of an item ends by following these easy steps:

1. Visit https://www.govdeals.com/SanMateoCounty to see the listings of all available surplus properties. Register for a bidder account if you have not done so already.

2. Email OOS_surplus@smcgov.org with a link to the requested item. State the school or school district that you are from and your GovDeals username.

3. We will pull the item from the auction, and provide pickup instructions. You are responsible for the removal, packing, loading, and transportation of the item.

4. Need an item but don’t see it on GovDeals, then email us the requested items and quantity. We will contact you if the requested items become available.