How is this idea $5,000 better or more effective than mine? (DC Appleseed)

The $5,000 winner from the DC Appleseed contest:

The Capital Clean-Up Project (CCUP) -- Where Healthy Streets Make Healthy Living

Litter plagues the streets of the Nation's Capital and offenders who commit these crimes often go unpunished. Wrappers and containers are carelessly thrown on our sidewalks by our youth, community members and passersby. The infestation of debris is prominent in impoverished areas of the District and the message of environmental abuse is being passed from generation to generation, causing feelings of uncleanness and depression, affecting the health and livelihood of everyone. Our streets are the arteries to our communities connecting us all. Ignoring the need to educate others on environmental care further neglects a healthier lifestyle.

CCUP is an environmentally conscious initiative that will merge District schools, faith-based organizations, and communities in the fight against litter. Participants will adopt city blocks, receive volunteer credits and have their names posted at each location. The Sponsor will provide necessary materials to participants. The school Superintendent will mandate participation, and environmental awareness shall be incorporated into academic standards. Each community organization will be recognized by the Mayor's office and the Department of Public Works will monitor progress.

CCUP will unite the city by creating environmentally conscious community groups. Communities will restore neighborhood self respect as families collectively become active. Participants will influence others not to litter and the gratifying sight of cleaniness will elevate neighborhood morale. Public recognition will be rewarding and will fuel continual progress. Statistical data will be available from the Department of Public Works whose resources will be conserved.

Here's my submitted idea:

4. Promoting anti-litter behavior through experiential learning in [DC Public] school[s]

With regard to litter, one of the biggest problems is that people lack a sense of connectedness to the environment, an ethic about trash, litter, and responsibility. The best way to address this is to build its development into our learning system, not just within schools but more broadly.

But I am getting ahead of myself. For many many years I have been intrigued by an article I read more than ten years ago in the New York Times Sunday Magazine about elementary education in Japan. In Japan, the schools don't have custodians; the children are responsible for cleaning the school. Now, it might not get quite as clean as it should, but the kids learn about what happens when they make messes...

Similarly, in efforts on litter interdiction in the H Street NE neighborhood, I made the following suggestion (although I am no longer involved with H Street Main Street, so I didn't execute it):I think that every elementary school should have a fall and a spring cleanup activity around a minimum of a one block radius around the school. This should be done in conjunction with local organizations. But every school in the city should do it, every fall, and every spring, every year...

Children become adults. And they would learn how to properly dispose of trash (and ideally, eventually, that it's a good idea to create less trash). Some of the trash littering our streets and sidewalks ends up in the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers...
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Frankly my version of this idea could be implemented and likely would have more impact. The winning idea has the kind of complexity offered by Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful national health care plan. Furthermore, my version would save money for the DC Public School system by allowing for the serious reduction of custodial personnel. (And I could use $5,000.)

Also see what I've written in the past on this issue, including:

-- Litter revisited
-- Spring cleanup... fall cleanup ... promoting cleaning behavior by ...
-- Every Litter Bit Hurts.

Index Keywords: civic-engagement; litter; quality-of-life-advocacy