June 30, 2008

Westchester County's Veggie Van's  recent visit to the Church Street Elementary School in White Plains is now being featured on YouTube.

Students at the Church Street School in White Plains got a tour of the van on Friday, June 13 and a visit from County Executive Andy Spano as a reward for collecting 9,000 plastic bags as part of the county’s plastic bag recycling drive. The Church Street visit was one of several made to schools in June as part of an effort to raise awareness about renewable energy and encourage recycling..  

“This is one of those things that is so much fun to show off,” County Executive Andy Spano said of the “Veggie Van.” “I wrote a letter to all the schools asking them to collect as many plastic bags as they could for our plastic bag recycling drive, and offered to bring the van to schools that collected bags. It’s been very successful.’’ 

Westchester County also held a plastic bag recycling day at Playland on June 28. Kids who brought in 100 bags got three free rides and a round of miniature golf. 
The Veggie Van, which runs on 100 percent vegetable oil from county-run concessions, will have visited more than 40 schools by the end of the month. The van will also visit camps this summer.

The county Department of Public Works teamed up with V.O.Tech, located in Mahopac, to create the "Veggie Van” by retrofitting a used para-transit van with a new fuel system that burns vegetable oil. Vegetable oil runs 80 percent cleaner than diesel and is free since the county gets used oil from county concession stands at Glen Island and Playland. Used oil is filtered to get rid of globs of food, etc. The non usable portion (all biodegradable) is used as compost.                                                           

The van was converted inside as a mobile classroom that has a flat screen monitor (so videos can be shown) and hands-on displays about Compact Florescent bulbs and other renewable energy sources.It’s been so successful that the county is creating a second mobile classroom van. The county already has more than 20 service vehicles that operate on vegetable oil.        

The vehicle is available free of charge to schools and other civic groups interested in learning about good environmental practices. It will also make appearances at the county’s various Household Chemical Clean Up Days. For more information about the “Veggie Van,” recycling and other environmental programs visit http://www.westchestergov.com/ or call the 813-5442.