Schools Nationwide Encouraged to Enter America’s Largest K-12 Recycling Competition; Thousands of America Recycles Day Events and Activities Expected
STAMFORD, Conn. (Aug. 2, 2016) – As students, teachers, administrators and staff prepare to head back to school, national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful plans to ignite a passion for recycling in schools across the nation with the launch of its 6th Annual Keep America Beautiful Recycle-Bowl. Registration opens today for the fall recycling competition program at https://Recycle-Bowl.org/.
Through participation in Recycle-Bowl and America Recycles Day, the only nationally-recognized day dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States, Keep America Beautiful is helping communities spotlight recycling on a local level by educating students and community members on how and what to recycle and providing an array of resources to improve recycling in America.
“Keep America Beautiful is determined to end littering, improve recycling and reduce waste, and beautify America’s communities,” said Brenda Pulley, senior vice president, recycling, Keep America Beautiful. “Recycle-Bowl and America Recycles Day are key fall initiatives to educate, motivate and activate individuals and entire communities to better understand what to place in recycling bins and the many environmental, economic and social benefits of recycling.”
Recycle-Bowl, Keep America Beautiful’s national K-12 school-based recycling competition, begins on Oct. 17 and culminates on America Recycles Day, Nov. 15. Registration for the fun and engaging four-week in-school competition is open to teachers, school administrators, school facility managers, PTA/PTO and other parent groups and local recycling advocates. Recycle-Bowl registration will remain open until Oct. 11, one week before the start of the competition. Nearly 700,000 students and teachers from more than 1,265 schools across the nation competed in the 2015 Recycle-Bowl.
New this year, Keep America Beautiful is equipped to help participating schools customize the competition in their area. The intent of this hyper-localized approach is to support a community or regional school district to use Recycle-Bowl to host and promote their own local recycling competitions with students leading the way as the next generation of community stewards.
Recyclables recovered during the 2015 Recycle-Bowl competition totaled 3.9 million pounds across 46 U.S. states, with Egg Harbor City Community School of Egg Harbor, New Jersey, crowned as the 2015 champion. Whether a school has an extensive recycling program, is just launching one, or is inspired to launch a recycling program, Recycle-Bowl is an excellent way for teachers, students and facility managers to engage their entire school community in recycling.
AMERICA RECYCLES DAY: NOV. 15, 2016
America Recycles Day, a Keep America Beautiful national initiative, takes place on and in the weeks leading into Nov. 15. Registration is open for businesses, community organizations, government entities, individuals and others planning to host an America Recycles Day-themed event. For recycling educators, the program provides an opportunity to improve recycling by reminding individuals what can be recycled.
Event organizers can access valuable resources to plan, promote and host an event on the America Recycles Day website where there are guides for hosting events, activity ideas, downloadable posters and banners, media outreach tools, sample proclamations and more. Events can be scheduled at any time during the fall leading into the official America Recycles Day celebration, Nov. 15. Learn more at https://AmericaRecyclesDay.org.
TAKE THE #BERECYCLED PLEDGE
This year, Keep America Beautiful is encouraging people to #BeRecycled in every aspect of their life. Available online at https://AmericaRecyclesDay.org and via paper pledges at events across the country, the #BeRecycled Pledge is a promise to actively choose to live a recycled lifestyle by committing to “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.” in all aspects of daily life:
- Recycling at home, work/school and on-the-go;
- Buying products made with recycled content; and
- Educating and encouraging friends, family and neighbors to take the #BeRecycled Pledge
“Recycle-Bowl and America Recycles Day provide the encouragement and resources to help make recycling a common practice, every day of the year,” said Pulley. “We encourage all community and environmentally-minded people, schools, business and organizations to participate in Recycle-Bowl and America Recycles Day and to take the #BeRecycled Pledge in a collective national effort to improve recycling in America.”
About Keep America Beautiful
At Keep America Beautiful, we want to ensure that beauty is our lasting signature. A leading national nonprofit, Keep America Beautiful inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. We envision a country in which every community is a clean, green, and beautiful place to live. Established in 1953, Keep America Beautiful provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people End Littering, Improve Recycling, and Beautify America’s Communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 620 state and community-based Keep America Beautiful affiliates, millions of volunteers, and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials, and individuals.
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