The Catholic Standard and Times

For area Catholic schools:
It pays to recycle

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

St. Adalbert Parish School — along with many other Catholic schools and parishes — is on to something good, and it involves tons of paper.

In the latest efforts by the school to raise money and be responsible stewards of the environment, St. Adalbert’s school has joined the Abitibi Paper Retriever Community Recycling Program.

In the last nine months, the innovative program has helped recycle more than 100 tons of paper from Catholic schools around the Archdiocese — enough to heat 100 homes for six months, or run 100 televisions for 31 hours. Not only is energy conserved and fewer trees cut down, but air emissions and wastewater discharges are reduced.

Abitibi-Consolidated, a 100-year-old lumber and paper company, purchased a recycling center four years ago with the vision of reducing the number of trees the company cuts down and the overall amount of paper-waste, by initiating the program within the company and then recruiting schools, organizations and communities for recycling efforts.

The company’s impact is global. Abitibi-Consolidated owns or is a partner in 27 paper mills, 22 saw mills, five manufacturing facilities and an engineered wood facility in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Korea, China and Thailand.

Locally, St. Adalbert joined nearly 200 Catholic and public schools in the project, and the school has already collected and recycled 12 tons of paper — in less than two months.

“It’s the best ‘fundraiser,’ because people don’t have to spend any money. Instead we’re helping them out,” said the school’s principal, Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth Sister M. Ruth. “It arouses a lot of enthusiasm in our children and the adults.”

Parents can clear their homes of newspapers, magazines, shopping catalogs, and office and school papers as well as mail, dropping them into six-by-six, green and yellow Abitibi Paper Retriever ® bins at the school. Then company employees empty the bins, weigh the paper materials and send a check to the school.

St. Adalbert will use the money it is raising for two new boilers for the school.
Meanwhile, along with being paid for every ton they donate, the participating schools are saving money in trash-removal costs.

“Sometimes it’s hard to get paper to the proper place for recycling, but this company makes it very convenient,” said Adam Buchter, Little Flower Catholic High School’s facility manager.

“It’s been great,” he said. “We’ve cut our trash by half, so we’re able to save the school a lot of money, the recycling bins are overflowing, and we’re helping to save the environment.”

Little Flower is dividing the money collected among the school’s departmental programs.

It’s a win-win situation for both schools and the paper company, said Paul Flenders, area manager for recycling for Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

The collected wastepaper is transported to a processing center, where it is sorted into various grades and then shipped to de-inking facilities and mills. There, it’s manufactured into 100 percent-recycled paper, which is used by one in three newspapers in the United States, Flenders said.

“You can feel confident that the paper does get recycled — not put in landfills or incinerated,” said Flenders, who is a parishioner of St. Mary in Phoenixville.

The company estimates that it is diverting 2.5 million tons of paper from North American landfills — saving 2.2 million cubic yards of landfill space every year.

In addition to being the largest recycler of newspapers in North America, with operations in 16 metropolitan areas and 13 recycling centers, Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling Division offers educational materials for the schools. A seven-minute video teaches students how to recycle the paper, and posters help them keep in mind their school’s recycling efforts, Flenders said.
The program, which opened in Philadelphia in March, is proving to be a huge success, and Catholics are happy to be a part of it. In fact, Flenders points out, Catholics and senior citizens are the two best demographics in the company’s recycling success.

To learn more visit www.paperretriever.com or call Paul Flenders at (215) 509-2220.

CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo can be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215) 965-4614.

Philly’s first: International studies program at West Catholic

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

West Philadelphia Catholic High School kicked off it’s new international studies program — the first of its kind in the Archdiocese — in true international style.

The school assembly introducing the program this November was a long-time dream of school officials, and it featured the nationally known touring Flamenco performers, Pasión y Arte, as well as Edward Turzanski, a professor at La Salle University and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute of Philadelphia.

West Catholic’s students come from families that originated in 47 different nations, so it seems fitting that such a program — which focuses on building greater cultural understanding — is based there, said Joseph Selfridge, the director of the program.

Students are reminded of the school’s cultural diversity every day they walk down the main hallway, where flags representing their families’ native countries are hung, Selfridge said.

“The need for global education is so compelling,” he added. “In our school, we have so many students with different backgrounds and so many who don’t understand these cultures”.

Selfridge left a 20-year career as a trial attorney seven years ago in order to pursue his passion to teach. His subjects are world history and international studies.

With the same passion, he has spearheaded the cultural program, and he has been rewarded with the school’s support — especially from Sister Mary Bur, West Catholic’s principal.

The international studies program, called “West Is,” incorporates academic studies taught by Selfridge, and school activities that are put on by two school clubs: the World Affairs Club, which is run by Nicole Rooper and Brother John Luczkowski, and the Cultural Diversity Club run by Marguerite Dimattia.

Participating students must be members of the clubs, and in addition, attend five lectures outside school, typically held at the University of Pennsylvania, La Salle University, the Foreign Policy Research Institute or the Philadelphia World Affairs Council, where such speakers have included the entertainer Bono, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, U. S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and ambassadors, foreign policy experts and university scholars.

West Catholic senior Chestnut said he believes the new program will provide him and his fellow students with a very necessary skill.

“No matter what kind of job you take, you will be with people from different countries — so we need international relations skills,” Chestnut said.

In fact, he said, he has found that the lack of cultural knowledge and understanding can be insulting to others at a time when the global community is becoming increasingly smaller.

Chestnut, along with his classmate Ian Prescott, helped develop West Catholic’s program. The two served on its action committee, where they provided feedback and helped organize the lecture series.

The program has helped put West Catholic’s students on the Philadelphia international community’s radar.

“We attended many lectures, and talked to key people. We got West Catholic out there, so they would know about us and our interest,” Chestnut said.

As a result, Chestnut was awarded a scholarship to attend the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia program, Student Voices 2005 Japan.

He spent a summer in Japan, absorbing the culture and learning the language. During that time, he ate cow tongue and eel, learned about the religious faith of the Japanese people, and realized that he and his fellow Japanese teens were not all that different, despite their language barrier.

Chestnut shared the insights he gained in Japan with his classmates during the program’s kick-off ceremony.

“[Japanese] teenagers have a huge dependence on music like we do, and in general they are very interested in American pop culture,” Chestnut said.

The program has 70 students, 30 of whom have declared international studies majors. If students complete a year of the program, they receive a certificate. Those who complete all four years will have that accomplishment noted on transcripts of their academic records.

Teachers, too, are getting involved. Some have already attended seminars on teaching Islam and terrorism, gaining understanding they can impart to their students.

Selfridge has attended seminars on foreign policy and Chinese-Japanese relations. His excitement cannot be contained: “We have a special [kind]of student here. They’re enthusiastic and interested, and they, themselves, with their diverse backgrounds, are a study for me.”

CS&T staff writer Nadia Pozo may be reached at npozo@adphila.org or (215)965-4614.