The Deer Park Board of Education has entered into a cooperative agreement with the Town of Babylon to recycle at every school. Recycling bins are being set up at every school building for students and staff to discard recyclable materials (paper, plastic, etc.). The Town, which has an agreement with the district for the removal of all its solid waste, has agreed to pick up the bins for recycling and will sort out any recyclable materials that are accidentally discarded with the regular trash.

"This is another example of a win-win initiative," said Board of Education President Dennis Ryan. "We are not only helping the environment, we our saving our taxpayers money." The initiative is expected to save the district approximately $50,000 and will be in full operation later this fall.

This summer, in its selection of a new food service provider, the Board of Education included a provision that prohibited qualifiers from using Styrofoam food trays, or any Styrofoam or non-biodegradable products in the Deer Park schools. The initiative followed the advice of two John F. Kennedy Intermediate School students who researched and presented facts about the use of Styrofoam trays. The Board continues to explore opportunities to operate the schools in a more efficient, environmentally friendly manner through solar power and other 'green' sources of energy.