Cups
Pleased to announce today that a change is coming in January to address a longstanding concern about plastics in the school environment. Many projects are under consideration, but the HS Environmental Club has made a case for taking one bold step after the holidays that is now fully supported by the school. Please see their message:
ASW will take till take a step forward in an effort to reduce waste! To combat single-use plastic waste, ASW will no longer buy white plastic cups used at water dispensers. This means that plastic cups will no longer be available at any water dispensers starting from January 7, 2019. It is important as a school to make environmentally-conscious choices and to teach students to take charge of their futures. Therefore, please remind your children to bring reusable water bottles to school to stay hydrated, as many are doing in elementary classrooms. We would love it if students continued to use water dispensers (or water fountains) rather than resorting to buying plastic bottles in the cafeteria.
Please note that plastic cups will not be purchased through the school for school-sponsored events. As well, our next steps will be to work closely with students and other vendors to limit plastic usage.
We all know that plastic of all kinds pollutes our oceans and landfills, and we recover only 5% of the plastic we produce in the world. In 2017, 96,000 cups were bought, and then thrown out at ASW. By making a change that reduces that number to 0, ASW is showing their commitment to taking steps to improve our commitment to the environment.
If you have any questions or concerns,
please email 19borisaite_i@aswarsaw.orgHS Environmental Club thanks you.
We’ll continue looking at other areas of plastic reduction throughout the school in the form of packing materials, cafeteria usage, etc. Incremental steps is the best way to achieve sustainable action and I applaud the HS Environmental Club for helping us take this important step.
Cars
Just a reminder, again on the environmental front, to turn engines off when waiting for students at the end of the day. Doesn’t matter whether in winter cold or summer heat, you engine must be turned off when waiting for more than a minute. Guards will remind you. There are NO excuses. I’ll be back out today and the rest of this week to help monitor and remind.
Air Quality
Again, on the environmental front, we have added an additional air quality sensor to the building in the internal area of the library entrance. Below is a reprint of an article from last year with regards to air quality, edited for the added sensor:
To help in monitoring air quality, we have installed two small monitoring devices just inside the building at our front entrance and outside the library. These units are now sharing data through the AirVisual interface. You can now monitor the school’s devices on your own applications via the sharing tool that this online system provides. The “Node” for the school has the following sharing code:
FBZFKATE
-and-
SB5URGSAIn order to monitor this node, you’ll need to setup an account on AirVisual. Then, point your browser here:
Follow the instructions for adding a node, entering the share code above. The instructions may be slightly different online vs. the mobile applications. You can then follow the school’s sensor and compare with the monitoring points in nearby Konstancin or in the city center of Warsaw.
We’ll keep monitoring and reflecting on our practices in this area. Your thoughts, as always, are welcome.
Happy to have you monitor and know that we have policy and procedures in place to address reduced activity when air quality is challenging in the local area. Our Health Office actively monitors this and assures good practice in protecting the health of our students.