Chesterfield, Mo., School District Wins AF&PA Recycling Award

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The Parkway School District of Chesterfield, Mo., USA, this past week received AF&PA's (Washington, D.C.) annual School Recycling Award. Parkway School District's recycling program serves more than 18,000 students in 29 school buildings.

The school district's program began in 1990 after several elementary students made a presentation to the board of education requesting that the district be a better steward of the environment. Since that time, expanded efforts have resulted in an Environmental Services Department that oversees all District sustainability efforts. Results include the recovery of more than 1,031 tons of newspaper, magazines, catalogs, direct mail, office paper, envelopes, and brochures, and more than 138 tons of paper-based packaging in 2009.

Sudents remain actively engaged, collecting paper in each classroom in deskside totes. Parkway Materials Recovery Specialists then make their rounds through their school collecting the full totes and taking them to green and yellow Paper Retriever bins, a centralized recycling location. The paper is then recycled through AbitibiBowater's Paper Retriever program, which pays the Parkway School District for each ton of paper recycled through the bin. Parkway uses these earnings to pay for school supplies, technology, or other worthy projects. The bins are also easily accessible to so that families and the surrounding community can participate in the paper recycling program.