BIRMINGHAM — Birmingham Public Schools students and staff have taken the initiative to make their school more green.

Michigan’s Public Act 146 of 2006 established the Michigan Green Schools program, a statewide program that helps schools meet environmental goals. Previously an independent 501(c)(3) organization, it is now run by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s Environmental Education Program.

Schools can apply to the program each year from Jan. 1 through early March. The online portal, at greenschools-michigan.hub.arcgis.com, shares ideas and information. Every year, a school must renew its certification.

Schools with a Green School certification have completed and documented at least 10 environmental activities that are approved by the program. Depending on the number of activities completed, schools will have varying statuses within the program.

If a school completes 10-14 activities, they will be a Michigan Green School; if a school completes 15-19 activities, they are named a Michigan Emerald School; if a school completes 20 or more activities, they are named a Michigan Evergreen School.

For any status, schools have to complete two activities from each category: reduce/reuse/recycle, energy, environmental protection, and miscellaneous.

There are currently 358 Certified Green Schools in Michigan, which is 15 more than last year. Of these, 106 are Michigan Green Schools, 85 are Michigan Emerald Schools and 167 are Michigan Evergreen Schools.

Bingham Farms Elementary’s Green Team

Bingham Farms Elementary, among other Birmingham Public Schools, is a Michigan Evergreen School.

Catherine Pardington, a first grade teacher at Bingham Farms Elementary, helps facilitate the Green Team, which is made up of students who play a huge role in the implementation of this project.

Green Team members help identify areas in the Bingham Farms Elementary community that they feel could be improved. Lucy, a fourth grade student, shared that littering around the playground was one of the issues that the team chose to focus on.

“Each month, we all listened and facilitated with the kids,” Pardington said. “What problem did they notice was happening in the school or in their community? And we brainstormed ideas about how to solve it. So, at the next meeting, they would come together using the ideas that they came up with, and we would work on addressing those needs.”

Right before Earth Day, they held an all-school cleanup where students learned how to use trash pickers to clean up the school. In order to teach their peers how to use the trash pickers, the Green Team created a video — which Lucy said she found to be really fun.

“Before we made that video and stuff, there was so much more trash on the playground,” Lucy said.

Lucy said she has learned many things while being on the Green Team. The first being, “I learned that Miss Pardington is awesome.” She added, “I started to notice people dropping trash on the ground, and I started to pick it up.”