Date: December 18, 2013
Contact: Leo Maheu, Environmental Educator
(207) 773-1738 or maheu@ecomaine.org
For Immediate Release
Maine Schools Win ecomaine Educational Grants
Maine Schools Capture Nearly $10K In Funding from ecomaine to Encourage
Recycling and Innovative Sustainability Efforts
PORTLAND, MAINE – (December 18, 2013) A dozen Maine schools laid claim to nearly $10,000 in
grant funding from ecomaine, southern Maine’s leader in recycling and waste-to-energy operations, to
foster sustainability and recycling efforts.
The money will be used begin or grow existing recycling or sustainability efforts.
Twelve schools will receive the grant money from ecomaine, which processes municipal solid waste and
recycling from 48 communities throughout Maine. A complete list of winning schools, the amount they
will receive, and the projects the money will fund, is included below.
“This is a way for us to help teach students about recycling and why it’s important,” ecomaine Recycling
Committee Chairwoman Susan McGinty, who also chaired the committee that evaluated the grant
applications and awarded the funding, said. “These grants represent a means of encouraging recycling and
sustainability within our communities. All of the students who benefit from these grant dollars will carry
what they have learned with them out into their communities. This isn’t just about being green, this is
about the bottom line; every resource we can reduce, reuse or recycle is a resource we don’t have to buy.
That’s just common sense.”
The grant money will be used for a variety of projects, from buying recycling bins to building a working
greenhouse out of reused 2-liter plastic bottles. The complete list of winning schools includes:
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Andover Elementary School, $300, for recycling bins,
Deering High School, Portland, $1,075, for a sorting station in the cafeteria,
East End Community School, Portland, $620, for a recycling shed and scales for waste audits.
Freeport High School, $700, for recycling bins, a composter and signage,
Helena Dyer Elementary, South Portland, $700, for recycling bins and instructional material,
King Middle School, Portland, $450, for recycling bins and instructional material,
Lyseth Elementary School, Portland, $1,075, for a cafeteria sorting station,
Marshwood Elementary, Eliot, $352, for recycling bins,
Readfield Elementary, $350, for a paper shredder for composting adjustments,
Riverton Elementary, Portland, $1,500, for a greenhouse built from 2-liter bottles,
Sanford High, $435, for recycling bins and transportation funding for the environmental club, and
St. Joseph’s College, Standish, $2,400, for large recycling containers.
ecomaine is the nonprofit, recycling and waste-to-energy operation that serves 25 percent of the state’s
population; it is owned by 21 communities and is located in Portland, Maine.
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