Recycling Champs Take the Hula Pie

Filling up blue bins definitely pays off, as more than 100 Glassell Park Elementary fifth graders recently discovered, having recycled their way to the beach and a seaside lunch at Duke’s Malibu.

The students won the Chivas USA Recycling Competition by filling 75 bins with recycling material during a two-week period, beating out Castelar Elementary.

Their recycling efforts also produced more long-term benefits for Glassell Park Elementary, which is near Atwater Village. According to fifth grade teacher Mrs. Shepherd, before the recycling competition the cafeteria staff didn’t recycle items, but they are continuing their efforts to fill up blue bins even now that the contest is complete.

Heal the Bay teamed with Major League Soccer team Chivas USA, the City’s Bureau of Sanitation, and the Aquarium of the Pacific to help get kids aware and excited about recycling. The grand prize was a Heal the Bay “Lunch and Learn” field trip, with the meal sponsored by Duke’s Malibu at its restaurant on PCH.

Heal the Bay provided the buses and the staff who led the students through games and beach activities all designed to teach ocean stewardship. The fifth graders learned how cigarette butts and Styrofoam end up on the beach, how trash harms animals and how they can help keep our local waters healthy and clean.

“This is the best field trip ever!” declared one student as he shook sand from his Van’s topsider. “I didn’t even realize this was the Pacific Ocean until today.”

Lunch afterwards at Duke’s was the icing on the Hula Pie.

Heal the Bay provides beach education through our Lunch and Learn program to 500 Title 1 students per year.

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