Maplewood actively seeks to live in tune with and respect for nature.
As a Center we adhere to a Green Initiative. As elaborated upon by the Go Green Rating Scale for Early Childhood Settings, “Green is defined as Safe, Sustainable, and Functional.” Our Green Initiative is designed to address products, programing, process and environment.
Note from the Director:
I will do the following to ensure our green initiative standards are upheld across my program:
– I provide my staff with eco-friendly tips to share with my students and/or parents.
– My staff has interest in learning more about the environment and expanding their science skills.
– Each staff member has received an employee manual that includes eco-friendly tips to be used in the Center.
– There is parent/teacher communication in the Center about ways to be environmentally responsible at home.
– My Center is environmentally safe for my children, families and staff.
– I make myself available to teachers and parents when they have suggestions to make the Center more environmentally responsible.
– I encourage parents to be involved in eco-friendly events and activities.
– I provide teachers with the proper training to better understand the eco-friendly curriculum.
– I encourage the use of safe natural items inside and outside as environmental educational tools.
– Eco-friendly practices are implemented in the Center through daily lesson plans.
– Susan Bernstein, Director of Maplewood C.D.C.
Maplewood is working towards accreditation by the Environmental Development of a Global Education (EDGE) program and Go Green Rating Scale for Early Childhood Settings. We are working with local business’ at the Green Exchange and others as we work towards LEED certifications as well as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. We also look to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) for sources of information regarding our green initiative.
We involve children in our green-living efforts and have set principles imbedded in our curriculum and programing.
We strive to follow the 9 R’s to carry out our Respect of Nature: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose, Renew, Refurbishes, Reconsider, Rethink, Replenish, Responsibility. This R-cycle philosophy will be the underlying themes in our curriculum, activities, daily experiences and care routines.
Children spend time in nature.
Children grow an organic garden with harvestable fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs.
Children grow an organic indoor potted and box garden.
WASTE RECOVERY CENTER
We participate in the City of Chicago’s Blue Bin recycling program and we have a Waste Recovery Center
The containers are separated in the following way:
Blue RECYCLE (any materials such as glass, plastic and aluminum)
White MIXED PAPERS (any and all paper products)
Black LANDFILL (anything that cannot be recycled and is just going to the landfill)
Brown COMPOST (most plant matter and some other food types)
Silver ELECTRONICS (any ink cartridges or cell phones that can be recycled as well as some other electronic devices)
Yellow PLASTIC BAGS (some grocery store recycle plastic bags)
Purple DONATION (many gently used items can be donated to be reused and potentially sold to provide resources for local and global organizations who emphasize charity, social justice, social give-back, green initiatives or early childhood)
FOOD AND FOOD WASTE
We minimize waste of food-related products and promote organic, locally grown and seasonal foods.
We compost at local community gardens as well as composting and vermicomposting on site.
We strive to serve meals which are prepared with organic, locally grown and seasonal foods.
WATER CONSERVATION
We minimize waste of water and promote green building practices.
Each student, parent, teacher and staff will participate in water conservation daily.
We have systems in place to reduce water flow to our toilets, sinks, outdoor hose and have an efficient rain barrel.
We only water our garden/yard during cool afternoons or evenings and only if needed. We use rain barrel water to water outdoor and in-house plants.
ENERGY CONSERVATION
We minimize waste of energy and promote green building practices.
Energy conservation in our home is also a top priority.
We turn off lights when they are not in use and those we use are energy-efficient ENERGY STAR seal compact fluorescent light bulbs. For one hour during nap/rest time we turn off the lights and use natural light which keeps two (2) pounds of pollutants out of the environment each day and rely on natural lighting whenever possible.
Many of our lights in our home are on motion detector systems. We hang solar powered light bulbs in the yard and inside by windows which are then brought indoors and hung in our child care center to provide afternoon and evening lighting.
The home daycare computer is set up to go into sleep mode when not in use which otherwise would use 75% of energy used just to keep the monitor on.
When possible we use luke-warm water instead of hot water which is an additional savings on energy consumption. It takes a considerable amount of energy to deliver and treat the water we use every day. So reducing water consumption as much as possible helps ensure we have a smaller footprint when it comes to energy expenditure.
We unplug as often as we can unused electronic devices such as the battery chargers and power adapters, power strips, computers, printers, fax machine, wireless routers, toaster oven, microwave oven, lamps, radio and audio players, baby sound machines and child monitors and cameras, among other electronic devices.
We use the heating and A/C systems as minimally as possible by setting reasonable temperatures throughout the day, adjust these settings as the seasons change and turn the A/C off if windows or doors are left open.
Our home has weather stripping, ceiling fans, shades and blinds, and double paned windows.
INDOOR AIR QUALITY
Our Program promotes healthy air quality.
Our program carefully manages respiratory allergens and irritants.
We create safe air zones to ensure the healthiest air possible.
Environmental quality will be enhanced using air purifiers.
We opt to change our air filters in our home’s central air system and in mobile air purifiers at least twice each season. The average person breathes in about 32,000 pints of air per day which are recorded to contain 1,120,000,000 particles of dust.
We store almost all chemicals outside of the center to keep the indoor air healthy.
INDOOR AIR and RESIDUAL QUALITY (Cleaners and Disinfectants)
We protect children from hazardous chemicals found in cleaning and disinfecting products.
We use non-toxic cleaners and products in our daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and yearly scheduled cleanings. This reduces allergens, indoor pollutants caused by chemicals and the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere further causing Global Warming. (Ask to see my cleaning supplies list and schedule)
ENDANGERED SPECIES
We promote a love of animals and involve children in animal husbandry.
There are approximately 1,930 total species listed under the Endangered Species Act as of 2010 and that number grows each year. Of these species, approximately 1,355 are found in part or entirely in the U.S. and its waters; the remainder are foreign species. By teaching young children in our program to be aware of the fragile web of life we are building knowledge and wisdom needed to respect wildlife in our future generations in hopes that this list will one day be non-existent.
OTHER ASPECTS OF OUR GREEN INITIATIVE REGARDING MATERIALS, EQUIPTMENT, FURNITURE, DÉCOR AND DAILY OPERATONS.
We promote stewardship of resources throughout the community for future generations.
We have a written plan to reduce our carbon footprint.
We encourage staff, children and parents to use pedestrian, bicycle, and public modes of transportation.
We buy renewable energy certificates, green tags, or other carbon offsets to equal the carbon dioxide generated through energy use at our facility.
We reduce office supply purchasing and packaging, reuse materials, an recycle to the greatest extent possible.
Wherever possible we use dry erase boards instead of posting printed messages, notices and postings.
We adhere to a paper policy of conservation, recycling, purchasing, and digital filing submission.
Conservation: This includes use of email, electronic presentations, scanning original documents to be emailed instead of faxed, using half-sheet fax cover pages, using both sides of a sheet of paper, and other means.
Recycling: Paper must be recycled, unless it is soiled. All attempts to recycle paper must be made by staff.
Purchasing: Paper products must be made with safe post-consumer recycled material and/or ecologically superior paper.
Digital Filing: Files created for the purpose of information, display, recording, presentation, distribution, reporting and submission must be filed on a web server, computer drive, and external back-up drive, CD, DVD or DVR.
Electronic Submission: Reports for Accreditation, Certification, Re-submissions, grants, statistics, case studies, assessments, surveys, questionnaires or media (photos, videos, voice streams, etc.) must be submitted via website, email, CD, DVD, DVR or USB Thumb Drive.
We protect children from hazardous chemicals found in body-care products.
We use eco-friendly, green detergents, soaps, and lotions.
We exceed pesticide safety requirements.
We use natural methods of insect deterrents such as lemon grass, blue grass, and, but not limited to, essential oil rubs and sprays.
We protect children from hazardous chemicals in plastics.
Learning materials and meal prep and meal ware are carefully selected to reduce the amount of exposure to plastic for our children and staff.
Staff and children are provided with stainless steel water bottles because they don’t contain BPA (Bisphoenol A).
Plastic bags for individual diapers and toileting are selected to support our green initiative.
Our routine green practices protect children from common hazardous materials.
Our outdoor area deck, garden and play yard, is kept free of debris, animal litter, and trash.
We wash surfaces of our deck as needed to remove accumulated dirt or contaminants,
We use plant based de-icing materials if necessary only if they are endorsed by the EPA Design for the Environment program.
We protect children from exposure to harmful fire retardants by inspecting furniture, stuffed animals, pillows, mattresses, etc.
We protect children from toxins in all products in our program through careful selection.
All our toys and products for children comply with the CPSIA because they were purchased after Feb 10, 2009.
We protect children from exposure to mercury.
We keep children safe by carefully selecting and handling all materials.
Meal- & cook-ware, learning materials, furniture and equipment are purchased with our green initiative in mind and are either gently used, up-purposed, recycled, or are manufactured by green initiative companies and local vendors.
We participate in Leave Paper Towels in the Trees campaign and use washable cloth towelettes on a daily basis.
We have separate types of towels for, but not limited to, cleaning, dishwashing, hand washing, face washing, and bathing.
Our wet wipes, nose tissues, toilet paper and paper towels are selected based on our green initiative requirements and if Illinois safety and sanitation standards allow are recyclable, compostable or dissolvable if flushed.
Laundry is washed with eco-friendly detergents in cold cycles and hung dry or air dried when possible. When possible we encourage parents to participate in or purchase cloth diapers.
We protect children from exposure to Lead.
Paint for walls are lead free and are manufactured by companies who support the green initiative or which are VOC free and odorless. Paint for art projects and exploration are created with natural plant based dyes when possible and are manufactured by green initiative companies.
GREEN STANDARDS AND SEALS:
EDGE
Forest Stewardship Council
The CRI Seal of Approval
Rainforest Alliance
Energy Star
USGBC
LEED
Environmental Protection Agency
Green Seal
Florida Solar Energy Center
Go Green Environmental Rating Scale for Early Childhood Education Settings
SOURCES:
The Public Recycling Officials of Pennsylvania, Developing a Waste Reduction and Recycling Program for Commercial, Industrial and Municipal Establishments, May 1995.
To find out more about how you can support children and help them establish personal connections with nature visit The Children & Nature Network’s website, www.cnaturenet.org.