Ortonville High School

200 Trojan Drive , Ortonville, MN 56278
LEFT

LEFT is our Local Environmental Focus Team, which consists of 6 senior high students who are leading our school’s efforts towards becoming more environmentally conscious. LEFT’s initial focus will be on reducing our school’s electricity usage and increase our recycling efforts.
Kristi Moberg, Kristi.moberg@ortonville.k12.mn.us, 320-839-6181

Touch of Gray (reducing our electricity usage)

Energy conservation

LEFT is focusing on reducing the amount of electricity used in our school. Our initial focus is in the classrooms and computer labs. Through education and cooperation of students and staff we are attempting to turn off nonessential lights and shut down all computers when not in use. LEFT is also investigating the feasibility of using motion sensors and timers on lights in some areas of the school.

LEFT’s goal is to see a measurable reduction in our electricity usage.

Recycling

Energy efficiency

LEFT will be heading up our school’s recycling efforts, especially in the classrooms, cafeteria, hallways, and at sporting events. In order to make this possible we need to obtain more recycling containers for these areas and increase the number of days during which recycling is picked up. LEFT plans to educate our faculty and students on the what, why, and hows of recycling through classroom visits, posters and flyers. We will weigh our recycling before our kick-off as well as during our recycling efforts to see if we have increased the amount of material that is recycled. We will also compare the amount of garbage before and during our recycling campaign in hopes that we will see a significant decrease in the amount of material thrown away.

Update: Our recycling project is up and running. We have surpassed our goal by cutting our garbage output almost in half. We are now adding the gym area, especially during sporting events, as our next target area for recycling.

The goal of LEFT is to reduce the amount of garbage our school produces by 1/4 by increasing our recycling efforts.