SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Independent School District on Friday celebrated Texas Recycles Day with a focus on recycling and sustainability, culminating in a revitalized playground at Sarah King Elementary.
“We are excited,” said Mia Martinez, a Sarah King Elementary fifth-grade student.
Students from 24 SAISD schools are excited about recycling after spending six weeks collecting more than 800,000 pounds in recycled goods .
“Recycling is important because it’s harming all the habitat, wildlife and it gets thrown into the ocean,” Mia said.
SAISD Foundation Executive Director Judy Geelhoed said that’s what recycling is all about.
“Today is all about recycle, reuse, sustainability, being out in the outdoors,” Geelhoed said.
To celebrate the students’ achievement, the SAISD Foundation, H-E-B, Unilever and the City of San Antonio revitalized the play area at Sarah King Elementary.
Volunteers on Friday morning added mulch, planted trees, built benches, installed new basketball hoops and added a musical area to uplift the playground.
One of the new additions is an outdoor classroom and play space where several of the items are recycled, like the wood from building blocks and classroom chairs.
Twenty schools received cash grants for students’ recycling efforts from Unilever and H-E-B.
Graebner Elementary won $10,000 for collecting the most recycled goods and plan to use the money to invest in the school .
“Reduce, reuse, recycle, right?,” Geelhoed said. “It’s important for our environment, it’s important for us to be able to sustain our communities, grow our communities, live well in our communities.”