VIDEO: Ingenuity Goes a Long Way for Former Griffin Middle School Students

Former Griffin students bring environmentally-friendly program to campus

Sept. 20, 2017 – A robotics competition for the 2015-2016 Griffin Middle School (GMS) LEGO team not only led to a partnership with Lewisville ISD’s Child Nutrition and Aramark Food Services, but resulted in a real-world solution with environmentally-friendly and economic impacts.

The competition, themed “Trash Trek,” challenged the students to identify a problem related to trash and create a solution. The students decided they wanted to eliminate polystyrene foam lunch trays used at school from landfills, and reached out to LISD’s Child Nutrition department to help them evaluate different solutions. Ultimately, this led to a partnership and a pilot program to recycle polystyrene foam trays at GMS.

Using StyroGenie, a machine which turns Styrofoam into recyclable material, the students—who now attend The Colony High School—have reduced on-site polystyrene waste volume by 98 percent. As a result, the pilot program offers waste collection fee savings and keeps foam waste from local landfills — benefitting the school, community and environment.

See what the foam trays turn into by watching the video below or click here to see the video on Facebook. Keep up with Griffin Middle School through Facebook, Twitter or the website.