STAMFORD, Conn. (Feb. 11, 2015) — Magnet Traditional School, a Phoenix, Ariz., elementary school, today was crowned national champion of Keep America Beautiful’s Recycle-Bowl®, the nationwide recycling competition for elementary-, middle- and high-school students.
Competing against 1,400 schools spanning 49 states and the District of Columbia, Magnet Traditional School students recycled 48 pounds of materials per person during the competition. The elementary school will be awarded a recycled content plastic park bench, courtesy of Trex. Recycle-Bowl was conducted during the four weeks leading up to America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, 2014. America Recycles Day celebrates the benefits of recycling and provides an educational platform that motivates people to take action to recycle more and recycle smarter, influencing recycling behaviors at work, at home and on the go.
“Through a fun and friendly competition, Recycle-Bowl shines a spotlight on school recycling and instills environmental values in our younger generations,” said Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful. “It’s inspiring to see students across the country becoming so enthusiastic about recycling and conserving our planet’s natural resources. Congratulations to Magnet Traditional School and all of our national and statewide winners.”
Nearly 900,000 students and teachers competed in Recycle-Bowl, striving to recycle as much as possible. Recyclables recovered during the 2014 competition totaled 4.4 million pounds, which prevented the release of 7,187 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E). In real-world terms, this reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from 1,409 passenger cars.
Other national category winners are:
- Community Division: Hillcrest Elementary School (Dublin, Ga.)
- District Division: Albany Unified School District (Albany, Calif.)
- Waste Reduction Champion: Guy Lee Elementary (Springfield, Ore.)
- Food Scrap Collection Champion: Albany Children’s Center (Albany, Calif.)
- Most Improved School: Central High School (Phoenix, Ariz.)
A full list of winners, including statewide winners, can be found on the Recycle-Bowl website.
All national and state Recycle-Bowl winners will be presented with a recycled-content plaque recognizing their achievements. Phoenix’s Central High School, which demonstrated the most improvement in its recycling per capita rate from 2013 to 2014, will receive $2,500 worth of recycling bins from Busch Systems.
Magnet Traditional School’s Parent Engagement Liaison Francisco Garcia heads up the school’s Recycle-Bowl participation as advisor for the school’s Student Leadership Group (SLC). “The SLC students are very involved in promoting recycling during Recycle-Bowl,” Garcia explained. “They visit classrooms of younger students to give recycling presentations and play sorting games to educate them about which materials go in which bins. We love the competitive aspect of Recycle-Bowl and take great pride in being the best in the nation.”
“Central High School has been in the business of recycling their waste stream at its source since 2002,” said Mark Williams, English Department Chair at Recycle-Bowl’s most improved school. “Central is coordinating with the City of Phoenix to move the majority of its classroom and office waste stream, almost 44 cubic yards a week, to recycling, keeping it out of the city’s municipal landfills.”
Participating schools leveraged the Recycle-Bowl to educate students about the importance of recycling, with some even taking field trips to their local recycling center.
Jane Howard, a teacher at Hawaii’s state winner Volcano School of Arts & Sciences, said, “The important outcome of participating in the national Recycle-Bowl is the increased awareness and mindfulness regarding our valuable resources, and how collective recycling efforts can and do make a difference!”
Keep America Beautiful’s Recycle-Bowl was made possible in part through support from Consumer Aerosol Products Council, Trex and Busch Systems.
About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is the nation’s leading nonprofit that brings people together to build and sustain vibrant communities. With a national network of community-based affiliates, we work with millions of volunteers who take action in their communities to transform public spaces into beautiful places. Through our programs and public-private partnerships, we engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community’s environment. To learn how you can donate and take action, visit kab.org. Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or view us on YouTube.