11/15/2006
Media Contact:
Ericka Wheeler, DPW, 327-7868 |
 |
America Recycles Day makes an impact on local schools, students
INDIANAPOLIS – To celebrate America Recycles Day the Indianapolis Department of Public Works announced the winners of the U.S. Conference of Mayor's, and Keep America Beautiful, Inc. Cans for Cash - City Recycling Challenge and the local Take-home Letter Challenge.
More than 100 cities have participated in the Cans for Cash Challenge over the past two years, resulting in the collection and recycling of more than 160 million aluminum cans, recovering more than $2.5 million in aluminum value and diverting nearly 5 million pounds of material from landfills. Each year, Indianapolis schools have been participants in the annual challenge. This year, Building Blocks Academy collected 209 pounds of aluminum cans – that is 6,688 total cans collected. For their participation and hard work, the school will receive 50 refurbished computers courtesy of Virtual Scavengers.
"This challenge is a great way to celebrate recycling in the City of Indianapolis. Because of their enormous success Building Blocks Academy has began to utilize this efforts as a year-round fundraising event. This is the type of enthusiasm we would like for more local schools to get involved with," said Kumar Menon, DPW director. "Recycling in Indianapolis has become a serious and on-going effort for DPW, and including our local schools is just one of the many strategies to engage more local Hoosiers."
"November 15 is a day to celebrate and highlight the benefits of recycling," Menon said. "Today, we are extremely excited to help America celebrate recycling efforts across the nation. Indianapolis is doing its part to help preserve our nation."
Decatur Early Childhood Center won first place for the elementary school division of the Take-home Letter Challenge, while Rise Learning Center was winners for the high school division. Both schools will receive 50 refurbished computers from Virtual Scavengers. This is the first year for the Take-home Letter Challenge. It was created to engage more local schools in recycling efforts through the city. Participating schools were asked to send home a letter to parents educating parents and students about recycling efforts through the city. The school that returned the most parent-signed letters were announced the winners.
|
