Did you know that there are 56.6 million students attending elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States?
That’s a lot of people and with that kind of numbers comes a bunch of garbage too. Highly-populated areas like schools deal with tonnes of trash each day. This comes from all the used paper, cafeteria leftovers, and used supplies.
If you want to maintain cleanliness in school for the next batch of students, you need to have systems and procedures in place. That means you’ll need to start organizing the school staff as well as the students. But without any direction, you can’t make full use of your resources.
In this post, you’ll learn some tips to ensure school cleanliness all year round. Read on and find out more today.
Top Tips and Tricks
Showing school pride isn’t about pep assemblies. It’s about how students show their care for their school campus. No matter what grade they have, they should always take pride in their school and show it by keeping it tidy and clean.
Make it a point for each student to clean up after themselves both at home and at school. The following are some tips that can help maintain cleanliness in school. You can also check this service out and see whether getting professionals works better for you.
1. Encourage Students to Wipe Their Feet on Mats Before Entering School
Regardless of the weather, debris like dirt, pollen, and leaves can stick to a student’s shoes. If you have a big location, it won’t take long before the floors start becoming dirty. That’s why it’s important to encourage students to wipe their shoes before coming inside the school.
It’s important to start getting mats if your school has none. Choose heavy-duty commercial grade mats with rubber backings for the best grip on hard floors and for better longevity. If your school has no room in their budget for these, you can always try asking the student body for a fundraiser. At the very least, you can ask your students to make a light scuff on the sidewalk before walking inside the building.
2. Tell Students to Throw Any Trash into Wastebaskets
A single candy wrapper dropped by a student doesn’t seem like a big deal on its own. But if hundreds of people do this every day, trash will build up and make the school campus messy. That’s why it’s important to encourage everyone to pick up after themselves whenever possible.
But if you want to maintain your school’s cleanliness, get everyone to pick up any trash even if it isn’t theirs. No matter where they are, as long as they notice the presence of trash, let them pick it up and throw it to the trash bin. If they feel that something is too gross to pick up, let them use a clean napkin and toss them together.
To make this more effective, make sure to do it as well. Encourage the students to follow your example. Before long, it becomes part of your school culture.
3. Start Recycling Paper, Glass, and Plastic
When your school starts recycling these materials, you’ll help reduce the amount of garbage that goes into the local landfill. That means your school will help make the environment better while keeping the school trash-free. The best part is that there are lots of recycling programs you can start, as long as you’re willing to put time and effort into a simple online search.
The most important part is to get the faculty, staff, and student body to cooperate. That way, everyone is on the same page when applying the recycling process.
4. Make a Beautification Day a School Event
This day can become a collaborative project involving students, teachers, parents, and other community members. The Beautification Day can help the janitors keep up with all the required cleaning for the school. Remember, they aren’t enough to keep the school spotless, so it’s important to coordinate with everyone and help out.
Hosting a Beautification Day gives students and adults the chance to work together. It’s a fun, fulfilling project that can help make the school as beautiful as it can be. Join together to start pulling weeds or raking up leaves.
If you’re in a snowy region, everyone can help shovel the snow and throw some rock salt. That way, students can get to classes safely. It’s especially important if you have disabled students on wheelchairs.
5. Organize a Green Team
A lot of schools are starting to adapt to this concept. At its core, the Green Team is a group of students in charge of maintaining the school’s cleanliness. They ensure that the recycling processes are functional while eliminating garbage and other debris.
This team can have weekly meetings and start collecting garbage throughout the campus premises. If there are no available recycling bins, the team can put large trash cans with the label “cans and bottles”. They can put all the recyclable items in the right bins during lunches and breaks.
Every week, they can gather all the recyclable items and take them to recycling centers with the help of a teacher. When applicable, the profits made from these items can fund other school beautification projects. Another alternative is to give it to the members as part of a reward system.
The prizes involved by being part of the Green Team can encourage students to start getting involved. It will create a cleaner school as time goes by since students are all vying to get the best prizes. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
Maintain Cleanliness in School Today!
If you want to maintain the cleanliness in school, make sure to follow these tips as a starting point. It’s especially important if you don’t have any cleaning processes in place. You’ll need everyone’s cooperation, especially the students.
Once you get everyone to collaborate, maintaining cleanliness won’t be a lot of trouble. That’s why encouraging positive behavior is a must. That means you need all the adults to set a good example and let the students learn the value of cleanliness.
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