Partnership Elementary earned first place at the county and state levels in the K-12 school recycling competition sponsored by Keep America Beautiful, Inc. and Nestlé Waters North America,
The students and staff at Partnership Elementary collected 3,231 pounds of mixed office paper, cans, plastic bottles, cardboard, and polystyrene trays during a 4-week period which came to 8.7 pounds of waste recycled per capita. This provided a savings of 4.8 cubic yards of landfill space.
A special ceremony will be held at 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the school where they will be awarded a $1,000 award from Keep America Beautiful as well as an additional $500 from the Feed the Bin School Recycling Program sponsored by Wake County Environmental Services.
In North Carolina, 183 schools competed in the comprehensive national recycling contest held Oct. 17- Nov. 12. Winners were determined by the largest amount of on-site recyclables collected per capita during that time. WCPSS had 22 schools participate.
Partnership Elementary, a school of just over 300 students, has been with the Feed the Bin Program since it began in 2005. Partnership is a three-time winner of the Highest Pounds of Paper Recycled per Student Award and has expanded its environmental efforts to recycle dozens of other materials with a company called TerraCycle. Through this unique partnership, schools can collect common trash items such as dried up pens and markers, food packaging, toothpaste tubes, ink jet cartridges, and more. In the four years working with TerraCycle, Partnership students and staff collected over 53,769 juice pouches, 25,648 granola bar wrappers, and 26,055 chip bags. These efforts have further reduced the school’s waste stream and environmental impact.