EPA is sharing this on behalf of Keep California Beautiful

Competition Aims to Get Students Recycling More

--- K-12 Schools Program Offers $5,000 in Rewards ---

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (October 13, 2010) - Keep California Beautiful (KCB) is piloting the California K-12 Schools Recycling Challenge, which is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for school recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to students, families, faculty and staff. This program is funded through a grant from national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful (KAB), which is supporting and examining a number of recycling education and awareness pilot programs across the country that could become models for nationwide campaigns. Promotional partners include CalRecycle, Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Green Technology and Green Technology Smart Media.

Online registration is open during the month of October. The competition will be conducted during the month of November and competitors are encouraged to support recycling events in conjunction with America Recycles Day, November 15th. With each week's reports and rankings, participating schools can watch how their results compare to other schools and use this data to rally their school communities to reduce and recycle more. The winners will be announced in December 2010. Awards totaling $5,000 will be distributed to the winning schools and districts to support their recycling initiatives.

With over 9,950 public schools organized in over 1,000 districts to serve more than 6.3 million students across California, K-12 schools consume large amounts of resources and generate much solid waste. Add on another 600,000 students in private schools and all the teachers, staff and administration employed by all schools and it is safe to say that one out of six Californians is "At School" each day. Schools can help communities reduce their waste while saving money and teaching kids valuable lessons. Many school districts have been successful in improving their economic and environmental performance through the implementation of waste reduction initiatives.

The competition will be measured on a "per capita" basis to allow schools/districts of all sizes to participate. Schools report recycling and trash data which are then ranked according to the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables collected, and the highest recycling rate. Because there is quite a bit of diversity in the availability of recycling programs and infrastructure for schools throughout the state, the contest will include 6 basic material categories: Paper; Cardboard; CRV Beverage Containers; Mixed Recyclables; Food Service Organics; and Expanded Polystyrene Foam. For more information on the competition, CLICK HERE 

About Keep California Beautiful Keep California Beautiful, Inc., is an environmental education non-profit 501c (3) , whose mission is to work together to ignite individuals, state and local governments, communities, and corporate responsibility through strategic initiatives and volunteer action to preserve and protect California's beautiful natural resources for generations to come. KCB forms public/private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. For additional information, visit www.keepcabeautiful.org 

About Keep America Beautiful Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation's largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of over 1,200 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public/private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments. CLICK HERE for additional information.