Teacher's passion for recycling receives recognition

Friday, Mar. 27, 2015

WEST VALLEY CITY — Liz Nafus, a Saint Olaf parishioner and Judge Memorial Catholic High School 1983 graduate, was named the Salt Lake County Recycler of the Month for February. 

Nafus, a second-grade teacher at Truman Elementary School in West Valley City, taught the entire student body, faculty and staff the importance of recycling.

After taking her students to the Salt Lake Valley Landfill for a tour, Nafus started a school-wide recycling program. Also, four years ago, the class entered Hogle Zoo’s Polar Bear Challenge, a contest for elementary schools in the Wasatch area that calls for plans to reduce energy consumption.

The first year Nafus’ class entered a paper recycling project and won second place; the second year their reusable bottle project won an honorable mention; two years ago they entered a school-wide project of reusable shopping bags and won the gold award. 

“We always tried to think of a project that would impact our community in terms of a life skill,” said Nafus. “For the gold award, we won $400 for classroom supplies, and my classroom won T-shirts.”  

As a result of these efforts, Truman Elementary is now a business partner with Hogle Zoo. 

“Because our projects were school-wide and involved the community, we are able to take free zoo classes, they support our literacy and family math night and they will come to our school with animals,” Nafus said. 

The Salt Lake County Landfill office learned about Nafus when they called various schools to talk to the person in charge of recycling. 

“We were given Liz, and we quickly realized she was doing more than 90 percent of what other teachers that we had been able to contact were doing,” said Morgan Olsen, Salt Lake County Landfill recycling specialist. “We were inspired by how much effort Liz had put forth to get the kids in her school to understand the importance of recycling. When I met Liz, I realized I had met her previously when she brought her school groups out to the landfill for tours.” 

Recycling is too easy and too important not to do, said Nafus. 

“If there is a fee, it’s minimal for most people, and if it’s a larger fee than you want to pay, find a recycling buddy,” she said. “I have a glass buddy. We save all our glass and also collect it from neighbors; she takes the brown glass and I take the mixed glass to the drop-off locations.”

Nafus started a recycling program 10 years ago when she began teaching at Truman Elementary, she said. 

“There were recycling bins in the halls that were over flowing, or kids would dump regular garbage in the recycling bins, so I taught the teachers how to recycle and assigned my students to each classroom,” said Nafus. “The teachers trained their students to recycle paper products; they would fill a box, and my students would take the boxes to the recycle bin outside in the parking lot.”

Recycling at the school has increased to include aluminum cans and plastic. 

“If the students or teachers, for example, bring birthday treats, they are trained to take the plastic containers to my room to be recycled; I take these items home to recycle because we don’t have plastic or aluminum bins at school,” she said. “It’s been really fun because it’s a classroom project that has grown into a school-wide project; some teachers now have two or three boxes each week, they are so committed to recycling.” 

Nafus’ second-grade students also are committed to recycling. 

Tianna is glad they are helping to keep the earth clean, she said. “I think it’s fun when we go into the classrooms to get all the paper.”

What makes Nafus proud is when students take the recycling knowledge they’ve learned in school home to share with their families and friends, she said. “One student flew to Indiana with her family for Christmas and they had to bring their wrapping paper back in their suitcases to be recycled,” she said.