PUKALANI — By the end of the school year, Carden Academy of Maui hopes to have in place a school recycling education program where students recycle everything from cans and bottles to plastic forks and spoons. Older students will teach younger ones about the environment through coloring books and presentations, The Maui News reported today.

To move toward that goal, the school of 112 students on Friday launched its reusable shopping bag fundraiser and responsible education program, where students are promoting and selling multiuse bags to replace plastic bags, which they say often get caught in trees or drift into the ocean.

"Through the sale of these bags, our students hope to educate and encourage Maui residents to use multiuse bags instead of bags that pollute and harm the shores, waters and sea life surrounding Maui," said Nina Sato, the school's program director.

To help the student body from grades K to 8 to understand how many plastic bags one person uses in a year and how they impact the environment, physical education teacher David Mason dressed up as the "bag monster" at an assembly at the school's campus in Pukalani.

Mason wore a white stretchable bodysuit covered with 500 plastic bags, or equivalent of what one person uses in one year in the United States.

"I love it," Mason said. "Whatever it takes for the kids to understand."

The costume came from the company named ChicoBag, with whom the school has partnered with on the venture. The school is selling the woven polyester multiuse bags from ChicoBag Co., which is based in Chico, Calif.

At the assembly, the students piled the hundreds of plastic bags they collected from home onto Mason's costume.

Beth McGregor, a parent volunteer, said the bags the students collected probably will be sent to Chico to make another bag monster costume.

Although the recycling effort was launched Friday, the middle school students have already been researching recycling options and the effects of plastic bags on the environment, as they will be the ones to spearhead the recycling effort as well as teach the younger students about recycling.

Quinn Jones, a 7th grader, said it takes $32 to make a ton of plastic bags, but it costs $4,000 to recycle that same amount.

He said it would be great if someone like billionaire Bill Gates would put money down to recycle the hard-to-degrade bags.

"They don't go away," he said.

But, he added, maybe we could ship the bags to Mars instead.

Eighth-grader Kristina Brown said she's excited about the change at school.

"I think it's really important, and everyone has to step up and do their part to help the environment," she said.

Brown, who collected 200 plastic bags from her home, applauded Council Member Mike Molina's bill that has been passed into law to reduce the number of plastic bags on Maui.

The bill takes effect Jan. 11, 2011, and will halt the distribution of plastic bags at the point of sale.

"I think that's really smart," Brown said, adding that she wished the law would go into effect sooner.

But the council decided to have the law go into effect later to allow businesses and the county departments time to prepare for the new law.

In a statement, Molina applauded Carden's efforts.

"We have two years before the Plastic Bag Reduction Bill takes effect," Molina said. "Therefore, it's very important to utilize this time to educate our students, businesses and the community to the advantages of using reusable bags."

Madison McGain, an 8th grader, said the school has already made wire baskets to collect bottles and cans and students have also cleaned up the school garden that used to be filled with weeds.

She said that now the school will grow vegetables such as beets and radishes, which it can use for food at school.

"It's important Carden does its part," she said.

Council members Wayne Nishiki and Mike Victorino, along with County Environmental Coordinator Kuhea Paracuelles and Deputy Director of Environmental Management Gregg Kresge, attended the assembly.

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