Conyers, Georgia-based Pratt Industries has announced it will lead a coalition of government, private enterprise, trade associations and nonprofits to increase recycling rates and environmental awareness among students and teachers in dozens of New York City schools.

Pratt Chairman Anthony Pratt was joined by local leaders, including Staten Island Borough President James S. Oddo, in releasing details of the program, designed to introduce a detailed antilittering, prorecycling curriculum to schools on Staten Island, New York. The program will eventually reach at least 20,000 students, according to Pratt.

“This is a great day for the city of New York and particularly the borough of Staten Island,” Pratt said to a group of students. “We’re proud to join this team and lend our support to this ambitious undertaking.”

Pratt Industries and Oddo spearheaded the program with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington. ISRI developed the curriculum with JASON Learning, a Mystic, Connecticut-based nonprofit organization and long-time partner of the National Geographic Society that was founded in 1989 by oceanographer Dr. Robert D. Ballard “to inspire and educate children through real science and exploration.” JASON Learning also provides lesson plans and development programs for teachers and educators.

Once Pratt and ISRI identified the ISRI/JASON Learning program as the appropriate curriculum, several other partners contributed resources and expertise to implement the program, including the Department of Sanitation of New York and the sustainability department for the Department of Education.

“This is a win-win for all those who call Staten Island home,” Pratt told students and educators at a local high school. “Our company will take all the paper you collect under this initiative to our paper mill right here on Staten Island, where it will be made into new 100-percent-recycled paper and then converted by us into brand new 100-percent-recycled packaging, helping to deliver everything from your computers to tonight’s pizza.”

The syllabus will be introduced on a trial basis at 10 Staten Island schools in the spring of 2015 and then expanded boroughwide during the 2015-2016 school year to eventually include more than half of Staten Island’s public schools.

Oddo said the curriculum would carry an antilitter component in an “effort to prevent the next generation of litterers, and the best way to do that is through education and increasing recycling rates.

“We are here as a result of a meeting I had last summer with the folks from Pratt Industries, who informed me about the ISRI/JASON Learning curriculum, and Pratt’s ability to secure the JASON resources due to Pratt’s membership and participation in ISRI,” Oddo continued. “Education is undoubtedly the key component to exhibiting the environmentally favorable behavior that we want to incent, and this pro-recycling, antilitter message will positively affect the kids in these schools.”

Staten Island is one of three municipalities nationwide ISRI is supporting for JASON Learning. The other pilot programs are being rolled out in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and in Baltimore.

Robin Wiener, president of ISRI, said her group of 1,600 member companies, who divert more than 100 million tons of materials from landfills each year, was passionate about doing everything possible to increase recycling rates, reducing what all Americans send to landfills.

“We applaud the vision of Borough President Oddo to drive increased recycling rates, which will undoubtedly reduce litter,” said Wiener. “When Pratt Industries, a very active member of ISRI, requested our support for this forward-thinking initiative on Staten Island, we immediately deployed our resources to ensure the realization of this program.”

Pratt Industries also will cover costs and host the professional development of staff from participating schools at its recycled paper mill on the island June 4. The company will host school tours at the facility so students can see firsthand how the paper recycling process works. Additionally, the company has donated recycling bins that have been placed in participating schools.

Pratt Industries says it is America’s fifth largest corrugated packaging company and the world’s largest, privately held 100-recycled-paper and packaging company, with more than 5,000 employees dedicated to the environment and sustainability. The U.S. operations of Pratt, which has its roots in Australia, was founded 20 years ago and, since then, has added recycling and manufacturing facilities in more than 25 states.