Students at Dana Hall School understand the importance of being green. In order to increase recycling efforts in both the Middle and Upper schools, the Environmental Club has teamed up with the maintenance staff to devise a program to help students and faculty recycle effectively.

In the Middle School, advisor groups are taking turns collecting paper from the classrooms and hallways and bringing it to a shed behind the building. In the Upper School, student volunteers from the Environmental Club have taken responsibility for hallway "stations," and then these volunteers bring the paper and bottles to the recycling area once a week. 

The maintenance staff helped the students develop a system to sort the recyclables; however, the students handle all of the "dirty" work themselves. They spend time on Thursday afternoons emptying bottles, sorting the aluminum, plastic, and glass, and bundling paper. After the bottles are sorted, the maintenance staff brings them to the Wellesley dump. The paper gets picked up every two weeks by Harvey Recycling.

Environmental Club advisor Catherine Cornell calculates that from August to October, 1.506 tons of paper were recycled. Additionally, at least three large trash bags filled with bottles and cans have been hauled to the dump each week.  

The group's current goal is to increase recycling in the dorms. Discussions are in the works to develop a system to get recyclables to the stations. As for goals for the future, students have expressed interest in composting.

The recycling station is in full swing every Thursday with the hope that more students and faculty will get involved in the effort.