News from the EarthWays Center

Spring planting = lots of plastic pots. Every April, as your daffodils come up and your flowers go in, the Plastic Pot Recycling program opens again at garden centers around St. Louis.Plastic pots cannot go into single stream recycling! Our specialized local program helps manage some of more than 350,000 pounds of horticultural plastic added to the U.S. waste stream each year. Since the Garden launched this effort in 1998, our region’s plastic pot recycling program has kept over one millio...

Children understand sustainability as a natural part of the preservation of our planet. All it takes is a little nudge from their teachers, and they enthusiastically embrace sustainability practices in their schools. This year, EarthWays Sustainability Network (ESN) was launched to develop a network of educators who could teach their students about waste, waste reduction, and recycling. ESN teachers train with EarthWays Center staff for one year - learning about solid waste issues, discover...

What can you do in a day to improve your community? People striving for a sustainable lifestyle “live” that question every day. The answer: you can engage in composting food waste, recycling or repurposing items, planting gardens with native plants, conserving energy and water, using alternative transportation – so many things that help preserve our ecosystem so that plants and people can thrive. But, where can you find the support to meet your green living goals? That’s ...

Students in the Pattonville School District are becoming “energy investigators” with the help of EarthWays Centers education team. As part of their Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, Pattonville invited EarthWays staff to work with students to develop a comprehensive curriculum that includes mapping out an energy lesson plan and teaching the students about energy: where it comes from, how it fits into our everyday lives, and how it impacts the environment. St...

New Volunteer Opportunities:Green Living Class Assistants: Love our classes? We need assistants to monitor our spring and summer green education classes. Class assistants stay for the entire class and help presenters set-up their materials, greet and check-in registered participants, collect evaluation surveys and assist with clean up. Did we mention that you get to attend the class for free? Topics of classes and experiences vary, but all focus on green living and sustainability concepts. Save ...

Go behind the science with Missouri Botanical Garden botanists at the Bayer Center and meet the Garden’s sustainability experts on their home turf in the Commerce Bank Center for Science Education by attending our upcoming "Science and Sustainability" Open House Weekend on February 25-26.Did you know that the Garden is one of the most active and productive botanical research institutions in the world? Researchers from our Science and Conservation Division are dedicated to studyin...

The Commerce Bank Center for Science Education, home of the EarthWays Center staff and offices, has once again earned the ENERGY STAR rating from the Environmental Protection Agency. This is the fifth year the Missouri Botanical Garden has received the award, which ranks the building within the top 10 percent of energy efficiency for comparable building types.When the Commerce Bank Center for Science Education (CBEC), located at the corner of Shaw Ave. and Kingshighway was designed and construct...