3R’s School Recycling


Kids push forward to help with the
recycling effort.

The Kokua Hawai’i Foundation’s 3R’s Recycling Program is provided to O’ahu public schools free of charge. We provide recycling bins, educational resources and trainings, and, if needed, assistance with recycling pickups.

How it Works

Each classroom receives two recycling bins, one yellow bin for cans/bottles/plastic and one green bin for paper/cardboard. Every two weeks student council or environmental club members collect the recyclables from each classroom and deposit them into your school’s community recycling bin. Income generated from these recyclables is returned to schools by the City & County of Honolulu. Our staff assists and empowers students to practice the 3R’s: reducing, reusing, and recycling.

In the fall of 2008, we are expanding our 3R’s educational offerings:

  • Recycling Orientations: Kokua will provide your lead group of recyclers a refresher course on recycling, including why we should do it and how to recycle properly and avoid “contamination” in your bins. We’ll also cover procedures on logging the amount of goods recycled and converting this data into meaningful statistics for kids.

  • HI-5 Collections: We can assist you in finding ways to turn your school’s HI-5 recyclables into funds for your school. Options include regular pickups and payments by recycling companies, quarterly recycling drives, and more. While these options require that all containers be sorted, City & County community bins are one way to generate partial income for HI-5’s without sorting beverage containers by type.

  • Wastestream Audits: We can lead students in conducting a school and/or classroom waste audit. These waste audits prompt students to examine the amount of waste generated on campus (including the cafeteria!) and determine ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle it.

  • Additional Classes: We can also sponsor classes on eco-footprints, composting, and more to help your student group reduce waste on campus. These can be tailor-made for your class/school.

  • Educational Resource Guide: We are adding a resource guide to our webpage that will include information, activities, and references that educators can use to incorporate the 3R’s into their teaching.


Participating Schools

‘Aikahi Elementary School
‘Aina Haina Elementary School
Iroquois Point Elementary
Ka’a'awa Elementary School
Kahuku Elementary School
Kahuku High & Intermediate School
Kaimuki Middle School
Kaiser High School
Kapolei Middle School
Kawananakoa Elementary School
Keolu Elementary School
La’ie Elementary School
Lanikai Elementary School
Niu Valley Intermediate School
Sunset Beach Elementary School
Voyager Public Charter School
Wai’alae Elementary Public Charter School
Waialua Elementary School
Wai’anae Elementary School
Waianae High School
Waikiki Elementary School
Wheeler Elementary School
Wheeler Middle School

How to Join

To bring the recycling program to your school on O’ahu, please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)(808) 638-5145 to start the sign up process. Two of the first steps in starting the program will be getting a community recycling bin on campus and recruiting the student group that will be your school’s “lead recyclers.”

Downloadable Materials

  • 3R’s packet. - In revision; coming soon.

  • Recycling_Sign.pdf - This recycling sign for your classroom lists what is recyclable in Hawai’i.

  • 3RsSong.mp3 - The 3 R’s Song, performed by Jack Johnson (song lyrics by Jack Johnson, music adapted from the Schoolhouse Rock song “3 is the Magic Number”). O’ahu schools may request a CD featuring this and other reduce-reuse-recycle songs from the City & County of Honolulu: www.opala.org