Students Recycle Over Half a Million Pounds

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DALTON, GA – Students from Whitfield County Public Schools, Dalton Public Schools, and two local private schools collected 627,632 pounds of materials for recycling during the 2010 – 2011 school year with Target Recycling at School. The 314 tons collected is the weight equivalent of 179 compact cars and reflects an increase of 25% over the last school year. If only aluminum cans were collected, students would have recycled the weight equivalent of 21,814,300 cans.

Recyclables collected at the thirty-four participating schools include mixed paper products, and where available, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Recycling is the process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and using all or part of it to create new products. As a result, recycling helps conserve our natural resources. For example, recycling 2,000 pounds of paper can save 60,000 gallons of water.

Target Recycling at School is a free program for schools in Whitfield County, Georgia providing environmental education and collection of recyclables. Each year a School Recycling Contest is held and the top recycling schools are recognized. Every quarter the school with the highest recycling rate receives a custom award that will help improve their recycling program or beautify the campus. At the end of the school year the top three schools for the entire year are announced. Awards are given out at the beginning of the following school year.

For the 2010 – 2011 school year the winners are:

First Place: Pleasant Grove Elementary School

Second Place: New Hope Middle School

Third Place: Fort Hill Complex

Honorable mention goes to the Learning Tree School, and Dug Gap Elementary School, which were part of the top five schools for the year.

Target Recycling at School is a program managed by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. For more information call Recycling and Education Coordinator, Liz Swafford at 706-278-5001 or the Target Recycling at School page on their website.

 

Camp Goers Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers

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 DALTON, GA – Camp participants at the Bradley Wellness Center in Dalton won their very own real tree for collecting more than 100 plastic bottles for recycling during their four-day camp this June. The Dalton Tree Board donated a Japanese Maple Red Dragon, which they planted near the tennis courts at the Bradley Wellness Center.

Liz Swafford, Recycling and Education Program Coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, launched the summer recycling contest on the first day of camp with a reading of the book “We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers” which features characters created by Lauren Child named Charlie and Lola. The group learned about the importance of recycling and just like in the book received a Tree Counter poster they could use to keep track of how many plastic bottles they recycled. By the end of the camp participants had collected over 250 plastic bottles for recycling, filled up the tree counter, and earned their own tree.

Pleasant Grove Elementary Receives 1st Quarter Recycling Award from Target Recycling

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DALTON, GA -  On Friday, January 28, the students and faculty at Pleasant Grove Elementary School received an award for having the highest recycling rate during the first quarter of the 2010 – 2011 school year.  During the months of August, September, and October, Pleasant Grove reached an average recycling rate of 17.1 pounds per student collecting a grand total of 9,110 pounds of recyclables.  Recycling Ben, mascot of the Target Recycling program, presented PeeGee, mascot for the school, a grey heavy-duty cart to help collect recycling bins from classrooms and offices.  Students cheered when PeeGee accepted the award during the school assembly.

Target Recycling is a recycling program managed by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority, which includes educational opportunities and recognition of participation to public and private schools in Whitfield County.  Since the Fall of 2008 local schools have hosted Target Recycling Containers where they collect mixed paper products like cardboard, paper, office paper, books, cereal boxes, magazines, and newspapers.  Each quarter of the school year the school with the highest recycling rate receives an award that will help improve the recycling program or beautify their campus.  Awards include items like recycling bins for classrooms or benches made from recycled materials.

To improve the recycling rate at your school, contact Liz Swafford, Recycling and Education Program Coordinator, at 706-278-5001, e-mail: lswafford@dwswa.org.

“I Will Recycle” Artwork To Be Featured On Two Billboards

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DALTON, GA – Dalton Middle School 7th grader, Esmeralda Perez, is the overall winner of the 2010 America Recycles Day Billboard Contest hosted by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority’s program Target Recycling. Her billboard artwork was chosen out of 203 entries from eight middle schools in Whitfield County. It simply states “I Will Recycle” and includes the America Recycles Day slogan, “I Recycle”. The design will be displayed for four weeks on two billboards in the Whitfield County area.

In addition to an overall winner, each grade also had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner. 6th grade: 1st Place, Ryan Neal, North Whitfield Middle School, 2nd Place, Vy Huynh, Dalton Middle School, 3rd Place, Victor Chavarria, Dalton Middle School. 7th grade: 1st Place, Esmeralda Perez, Dalton Middle School, 2nd Place MyKayla Hicks, North Whitfield Middle School, 3rd Place, Grace Wiggins, North Whitfield Middle School. 8th grade: 1st Place, Brianna Giron, Eastbrook Middle School, 2nd Place, Carrie Carlton, Dalton Middle School, 3rd Place, Axel Aguila, New Hope Middle School. The nine students received goodie bags and a certificate of participation from DWSWA staff. Their entries can be seen online at www.DWSWA.org.

Liz Swafford, Recycling and Education Program Coordinator at the DWSWA, explained that America Recycles Day is celebrated every year on November 15th and encourages the public to make a pledge to recycle year round. “The new billboards are just part of a greater, ongoing educational campaign for recycling options in Whitfield County. Students should be commended for rising to the challenge of this contest. Designing for billboards is very different from creating a typical piece of artwork. Billboards are seen by people in moving vehicles and need to have a clear, concise message typically made up of six words or less.”

To learn how you can recycle too, visit www.DWSWA.org or contact Liz Swafford, Recycling and Education Program Coordinator, at 706-278-5001 or e-mail: lswafford@dwswa.org.

Winners Announced - 2010 America Recycles Day Billboard Contest

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 Winners of the first ever America Recycles Day Billboard Contest were announced today at the City Hall in Dalton, Georgia. The 2010 contest was hosted by Target Recycling at School, a program managed by the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority which supports recycling efforts in 35 schools in Whitfield County. Liz Swafford, Recycling and Education Program Coordinator, congratulated all the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders that participated. "Designing artwork for billboards is very different from creating a typical piece of artwork.

Billboards are seen by people in moving vehicles and need to have a clear, concise message typically made up of six words or less." The winning design was created by Dalton Middle School 7th grader, Esmeralda Perez. Swafford added, "This year's billboard design simply states, "I will recycle" and "I Recycle" which is the America Recycles Day slogan."

In addition to an overall winner, each grade also had a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner. The nine students will be receiving goodie bags and a certificate of participation. The results and student's artwork are listed below. It will take about two to three weeks for the billboard to be made and revealed to the public. We will keep you informed and have an official unveiling date soon.