Some Federal Way schools are doing their part to keep the planet green.

Green Gables and Camelot elementary schools are recipients this year of the King County Earth Heroes award.

Both schools have Green Teams, who help with recycling at lunch and have started a composting program for lunch scraps.

At Green Gables, teacher Karen Konrad began formulating the plan last year. The school had worked on beefing up recycling efforts for the past three years, but Konrad wanted to do more. Now she has about 30 students on the Green Team.

After picking through applications and training the team, students now run the show at lunchtime.

“They trained themselves and then trained the school,” Konrad said. “At first it was a little bumpy. It was really making it work smoothly and with ease and the kids were really integral in that.”

Both schools have seen a marked difference in their waste numbers.

At Camelot, the garbage rates have decreased by 50 percent and the school has moved to a smaller garbage dumpster for its weekly pickup, saving money for the district.

Green Gables has increased their recycling by more than 20 percent. Now about 61 percent of the school’s waste is recycled.

According to King County Solid Waste, some of the district schools were able to reduce garbage disposal costs by up to $5,000 per school year.

Green Gables was also the first school in Federal Way to start a compost program at lunch. Now Green Team members stand by to ensure all food waste and paper towels go into the compost bin, and that all recyclables go into a separate bin. The students use long tongs to reach into the garbage and move anything that didn’t make it into the proper container. But for the most part, the school’s students and staff have learned what goes where.

“People have gotten really used to it now,” said Kyoko Hall, a third-grader on the Green Team. “It’s going really well.”

Throughout the school there are signs of the green change — literally. The Green Team has put up signs all over the schools: Signs reminding students to recycle paper towels, turn off the water while washing hands and only use one paper towel to dry off their hands. Signs also list what items can be recycled.

Starting next month, the school will embark on Waste Free Wednesdays, attempting to not use a single item that can’t either be reused or recycled. The Green Team is putting together examples of lunches without plastic sandwich bags and paper napkins.

Students also go around the school presenting to classrooms on how to be green. The students came up with the presentations on their own and go to the classrooms on their own, where sometimes the younger students lecture the older students. Students also made a movie titled “Waste Free Wendall Saves the Day.”

But for the students, the reasons to be green are clear.

“I like to know that someday I might save the planet,” Green Gables third-grader Sarah Matlick said.

“Our future is going to look trashed if we can’t get everything back together,” third-grader Elizabeth Adams said.

There are more than 300 schools in 10 districts in King County that are a part of the Green Schools program. Past recipients of the King County Earth Heroes award include Illahee and Sacajawea middle schools. Federal Way Public Schools was also named the King County’s Green Globe Leader in Sustainable Schools in 2007.