Regina schools' 'Green team' hoping to inspire others to become more environmentally conscious

REGINA -

While most children rush outdoors for their coveted afternoon recess, a group of students at Douglas Park Elementary School spend their break time collecting recyclables and working to make their school more environmentally-conscious.

The "Green Team" began in 2018, created by a handful of grade five students, including Allison Tetlow’s eldest daughter, Abby.

“The kids were noticing that recycling was thrown in the garbage. So, they went up to a teacher, and that teacher and I started the Green Team,” said Tetlow.

The team is now made up of 20 students from several grades.

“We go around the school and we help out with recycling and things like that. We’ll go through the garbages to make sure everything’s good in there,” said Gemma Promhouse, member of the Green Team.

They’ve also created several videos teaching other students how to properly send their items to the blue bin. Between 2018 and the start of 2020, the team was able to divert more than 4,000 pounds of recyclable plastics and paper from the landfill.

“It’s really a lot, so it shows that it does make a big difference,” said Kaydence Austman, member of the Green Team.

In 2020, the team won the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Award for their environmental efforts. While the recognition is appreciated, grade five student Ever Tetlow has bigger goals in mind.

“My hope is that we’ll teach kids to save the earth and then they’ll teach their parents, then the parents will teach their neighbours and it’ll eventually get around the whole world so that there’s no more pollution in it,” said Ever Tetlow, a second-year member of the Green Team.

Several of the students on the team are in their last year at the school. However, they said they want to help the Douglas Park School program continue even after they head off to high school

“I think it would be really cool if other schools started doing a similar thing,” said Austman.

As a mom of several Green Team members, Tetlow said she is so proud to see what they’ve accomplished.

“If we can set these kids on the right path right now, they’re going to take it with them throughout their lives and then they’re going to teach others,” said Tetlow. “And then we’re going to have a generation who are going to be leaders in their adult lives.”