Keep America Beautiful names 2016 Recycle-Bowl Champion

Nonprofit organization Keep America Beautiful, Stamford, Connecticut, has announced Bon Air Elementary School of Kokomo, Indiana, has been named the national champion of its Recycle-Bowl, a national recycling competition for elementary, middle and high school students, teachers and school communities.

Competing against nearly 1,300 schools spanning 47 states and the District of Columbia, Bon Air Elementary students recycled 48.7 pounds of materials per student and per teacher during the competition. The kindergarten-through-fifth-grade school has been awarded a recycled content plastic park bench, courtesy of Trex Co., and $1,000 worth of recycling bins from Busch Systems. The Recycle-Bowl competition took place over four weeks in the fall of 2016, culminating on America Recycles Day Nov. 15, 2016.

“We are so proud of Bon Air Elementary for exemplifying the mission of Recycle-Bowl,” says Brenda Pulley, senior vice president of recycling, Keep America Beautiful. “It’s encouraging to see students of all age groups and from all parts of the country get so excited about recycling both at school and at home. Congratulations to Bon Air Elementary and all of our Recycle-Bowl statewide winners.”

More than 700,000 students and teachers participated in Recycle-Bowl, with the goal to recycle as much material as possible. Recyclables recovered during the 2016 competition totaled 2.2 million pounds, which prevented the release of 3,150 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, Keep America Beautiful says. This reduction in greenhouse gases is equivalent to the annual emissions from 655 passenger cars. 

“Kokomo School Corp. officials from the Bon Air Technology Academies are delighted to be selected for awards at both the state and national levels in the Keep America Beautiful recycling competition,” says Lyndsi Smith, assistant principal, Technology Academy, at Bon Air Elementary. “Bon Air schools and our community are committed to help protect our environment and participating in the Keep America Beautiful program is another way our students, staff and families can make a difference. Thank you Keep America Beautiful for allowing the Bon Air schools community to help the world.”

Other 2016 national category winners include:

• Community Division, Keres Children’s Learning Center (KCLC), Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico;
• District Division, New Haven Unified School District, Union City, California;
• Waste Reduction, George W. Whitlow Elementary School, Cumming, Georgia;
• Food Scrap Collection, Pahoa High and Intermediate, Pahoa, Hawaii; and
• Most Improved, The Children’s School, Rock Hill, South Carolina. 

The Children’s School will receive $1,500 worth of recycling bins from Busch Systems for demonstrating the most improvement in its recycling per capita rate from 2015 to 2016. The George W. Whitlow Elementary School, which won the Waste Reduction category for being the school that creates the least waste (recycling and trash) per person, will receive $500 worth of recycling bins from Busch Systems.

The list of the 2016 Recycle-Bowl division and statewide winners, as well as descriptions of the national competition categories, are on the Recycle-Bowl website. All national and state Recycle-Bowl winners received a recycled-content plaque recognizing their achievements. 

Keep America Beautiful says it is a leading national nonprofit that inspires and educates people to take action every day to improve and beautify their community environment. Established in 1953, KAB says it provides the expertise, programs and resources to help people end littering in America, increase recycling in America and beautify America’s communities. The organization is driven by the work and passion of more than 620 community-based KAB affiliates, millions of volunteers and the support of corporate partners, municipalities, elected officials and individuals.