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Taylorsville • Street lamps powered by the sun? Watering restrictions that allow sprinklers only at night? A recycling bin placed beside each garbage can?
Tara Gillispie, Nasser Albasis and Tavien Lewis — all students at Fox Hills Elementary — proposed those changes to become the winners of the first Green Ideas for Taylorsville (GIFT) contest.
The first-place prize went to Tara, a fifth-grader, who suggested that solar panels could save the city money on street lighting.
"I thought it would be good to use solar power on the street lights," the 10-year-old said, "instead of electricity."
The city honored sixth-grader Nasser and fourth-grader Tavien as runners-up for their ideas, respectively, to limit lawn-watering to the hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. and to place recycling bins beside garbage bins throughout Taylorsville.
Why water at night? "That's when the heat's not going to evaporate the water," Nasser said.
And why install more recycling bins? "It helps the environment and the trees and it helps nature," Tavien said.
The three children were recognized in late September for their energy-saving ideas by the Taylorsville City Council with certificates, posters and a toy plastic trash can from Salt Lake County's sanitation division. In addition, American Express awarded the winners gift cards: $50 for Tara and $25 for Nasser and Tavien.
The contest was created by the Taylorsville Green Committee, which challenged city youths in the spring to propose ways to help the community become greener and more energy efficient.
"We wanted to encourage youths to be more focused on green efforts," said Jack Lucas, the committee's chairman. "It's been tremendous to see their enthusiasm. Our winners came up with some tremendous ideas."
The YMCA joined in the effort by incorporating activities on the environment into the after-school program at Fox Hills Elementary. The program's focus areas include youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.
"It was a great opportunity for us to be involved," program director Danielle Latta said.
Lucas said the Taylorsville Green Committee hopes to make the GIFT contest an annual event for all schools in the city.
twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC