Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
BURLINGTON – Champlain Elementary School fifth-graders listened intently to a lesson on battery recycling on a recent morning. The students, already recognized for their recycling dedication, were eager to build on their school’s success.
Champlain Elementary School won the 2025 Recycle Rally Challenge sponsored by the Chittenden Solid Waste District.
“Getting to be part of something was fun,” said Karla, a fifth-grader.
The challenge was about more than getting a prize. It was about encouraging students to build environmentally-friendly habits that they practice daily, both at school and at home.
Chittenden Solid Waste District is the regional authority that oversees solid waste management for the 169,000 residents and 7,300 businesses of Chittenden County. The school-based challenge, which is held every fall, fits in with the district’s broader mission to reduce waste and maximize reusing and recycling.
Rhonda Mace, known as “Recycle Rhonda” to students, is the school outreach coordinator for CSWD. She has been in this position for nearly 12 years and came up with the idea for the Recycle Rally Challenge in 2017 as a small way to divert as much recyclable material from the landfill as possible.
In class, students participating in the challenge learn about what can be recycled, composted and trashed. Then, for the next four weeks, they keep track of their bins in the classroom and cafeteria. If the compost bin has nothing but food in it, they get a check. If things in the recycling are all blue-bin recyclable and are rinsed clean, they get a check. If the trash has everything else that can’t be composted or recycled, they get a check.
At the end of four weeks, Champlain Elementary School had 92% success with trash sorting.
According to CSWD, the annual challenge has helped Champlain Elementary School students form habits that have reduced recyclables in the trash by 15% and reduced the amount of trash generated in a day by 11%.
In 2023, Vermont generated 580,089 tons of municipal solid waste which, per capita, is 4.91 pounds per day according to the 2023 Diversion and Disposal Report. More recently, the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation updated its five-year guide to emphasize complying with Vermont’s Universal Recycling law through in-person outreach at K-12 schools, underscoring the importance of Mace’s work.
Students in Aziza Malik’s and Sara Brown’s fifth-grade classes have continued to practice the habits they learned during the challenge. They’ve also come up with systems to deal with recycling challenges.
The plastic bags used for daily breakfast delivered to classrooms can’t go in the traditional blue bin and need to be sorted separately. Students came up with an idea to put the breakfast baggies into a satchel by the trash area. When that fills up, they empty the satchel into a larger trash bag which is then taken to the recycling center. This special sorting of the baggies has been implemented across all the Champlain Elementary classrooms and has kept thousands of pieces of recycling out of landfills.
In addition to the Recycle Rally Challenge, CSWD works with schools on a broad range of practices to inspire sustainable habits. This spring, Mace coordinated another two-week sustainability competition called the Battery Bonanza. Last year, the Bonanza collected 4,128 pounds of batteries from schools, 1,145 pounds of which was collected by Champlain Elementary School in Burlington’s South End.
Vermont was the first state to mandate the proper disposal of single-use and rechargeable batteries. As of July 2024, it is illegal to throw batteries in landfills, under Act 152. Despite mandates like this, many consumers are unaware of proper battery disposal practices, especially around lithium batteries, which can be flammable. A national survey by Cirba Solutions, a battery recycling material and management company, showed that 53% of people who use lithium batteries daily don’t know how to safely dispose of them.
Kristian, a fifth-grader at Champlain Elementary School, didn’t know that batteries were supposed to be recycled before the 2025 Battery Bonanza. This year, Kristian saved up batteries throughout the winter to help score points for the school.
As the 2026 Battery Bonanza Challenge unfolded, students plotted how they would surpass the total number of batteries they collected last year, which included sourcing them from friends and neighbors. Beyond winning the challenge, the students educate their parents and other adults about proper sustainable practices. Parents post on platforms like Front Porch Forum to encourage workplaces to offer battery recycling bins, for example.
The children learn that they can be leaders, Mace said.
“They have so much excitement for not only the prize, but also the mission and they are truly the ones making the change,” she said.