Greentown, Indiana - Today, the Indiana Recycling Coalition (IRC) joins the Howard County Recycling District in recognizing the Indiana winner of “Recycle-Bowl,” the first comprehensive nationwide recycling competition for elementary-, middle- and high-school students. Recycle Bowl is a new program presented by the IRC’s national recycling partner, Keep America Beautiful. First place in the Indiana school versus school division went to Eastern Elementary in Greentown, Indiana where students recycled 40.454 pounds of waste per capita (9,183 total lbs.), earning $1000 in prize money for the school. Students will be recognized at a special awards ceremony on February 29, 2012.
“The Indiana Recycling Coalition congratulates Eastern Elementary, and all 45 Indiana schools who participated in this first year of Recycle-Bowl,” said Carey Hamilton, Executive Director of the Indiana Recycling Coalition. “We are thrilled with the strong response during the inaugural competition and plan to encourage many more schools across the state to sign on for the fall 2012 competition,” continued Hamilton.
From Oct. 17 through Nov. 12, 2011, participating schools recycled as much as possible. The total amount of school only recyclables recovered during the 2011 national competition added up to 2,088,000 pounds, which in turn prevented the release of nearly 990 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E). In real-world terms, this reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from 154 passenger cars; 191,998 gallons of gas; or nearly 7.4 million gallons of water.
“Of Indiana’s total of 45 participating schools I couldn’t be happier that 27 of those schools are from Howard County. The Recycling District entered the schools in the competition and we tracked their weights weekly, since we already had a recycling program in place for the schools everything went smoothly. The kids and school staff do a fabulous job year round recycling not just during the Recycle-Bowl Competition; however they sure did shine during this competition,” said Mikki Jeffers, Director of Howard County Recycling District.
Nestlé Waters North America sponsored this year’s Recycle-Bowl competition.
Recycle-Bowl By The Numbers:
- 1,223 schools registered - 1% of all U.S. public and private schools.
- More than 500,000 students participated in the competition.
- On average, 5.32 pounds of material was collected per person in the school versus school division during the four weeks of the competition.
- 67% of schools saw “significant” or “some” increase in the amount of material recycled.
- 2% of schools started a recycling program because of Recycle-Bowl.
- If all students in America recycled at the rate of this year’s Recycle-Bowl competitors, approximately 1.8 million tons of material would be diverted annually from landfills. That would be the weight of 156,000 school buses!
A full list of statewide winners can be found at www.indianarecycling.org. Click on Recycle-Bowl.
