6.9 Day 4 * On Waste

10:00 PM: still working on the District kiln inventory; after spending most of the day at school cleaning...
There's a lot to clean out in my NEW art room, to make room for my stuff! I found a gallon of old Elmer's glue that quite literally was brown; with mold inside the container! How many years has it been since anyone cleaned room 242?? So, there are tons of things that are "garbage" and need to be sorted and disposed of.
At the same time, not just this year but EVERY year, there are tons of things that are NOT garbage that need to, in my humble opinion, be SAVED from being disposed!
Already this end-of-year I've made 3 trips to the Goodwill, with items that students or teachers have thrown away. Books. Notebooks. Jackets. Shoes. (With the number of clothing items in the Lost and Found at the end of the year, you'd be convinced that we have a bunch of nude little kids running around...) Fake flower bouquets. Banners. Posters. Vases. Cups. Furniture. A pinata. Freshly made pillows from the Home Ec room - along with bags of poly filling and fabric. Every year I am amazed at the waste, especially since most of what is thrown away is perfectly good and usable. I'm tempted, by the time I end my career, to come up with some sort of "school supply rescue" organization - what if we collected it all, packed it attractively, and SWAPPED IT with some other school's stuff? The kids would still have "NEW" and nothing would go to waste...
I walked to my new school today. 30 minutes walking from my door. This will be great - I can easily walk or ride my bike to work! This is only the second time in 20 years that I will be teaching in ONE building, making it possible to transport myself in a more sustainable way!