"Extra Credit" -- counts for 50 pledges
Every school that sends us a photo of our pledge poster (or your creative alternative) will get credit for 50 pledges. Send the photo to us before the contest closes at midnight on March 15th. Be sure to tell us which school gets those 50 extra pledges!
"Extra Credit" -- counts for 100 pledges
Every school that sends us a photo of 15 or more students wearing green will get extra credit for it! Send the photo to us before the contest closes at midnight on March 15th. Be sure to tell us which school gets those 100 extra pledges!
Print our backpack flyer to send home with students, so they can ask their parents to take the pledge.
This is a one page description of the Great Schools, Clean Streams contest to share with faculty, PTAs, and other school supporters.
Print our posters and place in your school to alert parents and faculty to take the pledge and share.
Here are some sample contest announcement newsletter/LMS blurbs, texts, and emails. Just copy and paste!
Wondering how to get your school to the top of the leaderboard? Here are some tips to help make your school's outreach campaign a success!
What you can do:
Learn more: www.nccde.org/213/Fats-Oils-Grease
Whenever possible, buy products that are free of toxic chemicals. Read the label and choose the least hazardous product to do the job. The words “warning”, “danger”, and “poison” indicate that the product’s ingredients are harmful so try to avoid. Try to select products that are made from plant-based materials, such as citrus, vegetable or pine oils.
What you can do:
Runoff can be contaminated and also causes flooding. Before our region was developed, most of the land was covered in forests, wetlands and marshes. When it rained, most of the rainwater would slowly soak into the ground. Because our landscape now includes homes, businesses and shopping centers, rainwater can’t soak through hard surfaces such as roads and parking lots but instead runs quickly over these surfaces and causes flooding.
What can you do:
If you live in a community, you can also make a difference by:
Dumping harmful pollutants, such as motor oil, into storm drains is illegal. New Castle County residents should report any pollution going into or out of the storm sewer system by contacting the pollution hotline at:
Call or text 302STOPPIT (302.786.7748), or write hotline@302stoppit.org
Learn more: www.302stoppit.org/home
City of Newark:
Gardening with native plants – plants that originated in this area – supports both water and wildlife. These plants thrive in our climate and are easy to grow and care for without using extra water or chemicals. Native trees, shrubs and plants improve water quality by filtering pollutants and help to absorb excess water with their deep roots. Plus, their seeds, berries and leaves are great food for birds, butterflies and pollinating insects.
What you can do:
If you don’t have a yard, you can still make a difference:
Scoop the Poop
Help stop Poo-llution and keep harmful bacteria out of our waters. Picking up after your pet is a simple way to keep pollution out of our waterways while keeping our parks, neighborhoods and yards clean.
There are over 110,000* dogs in New Castle County generating approximately 41 tons* of poop daily. It’s the same as untreated sewage washing into our waters!
An average size dog dropping can contain 3 billion harmful bacteria. Rain washes these bacteria and nutrients into our streams, rivers and beaches which can make water unsafe for swimming and recreation.
What you can do:
If you don’t have a dog, you can still make a difference:
* Estimate based on 34% of households owning 1.6 dogs (American Veterinary Medical Assoc) x 200,000 NCC households (US Census 2013-17) x .75 lbs waste/dog