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The nineteenth annual telephone book recycling campaign has concluded. This is organized and managed every year by the Allegany County Commissioners, the Solid Waste Management Board, and the Allegany County Board of Education. Students from public as well as private schools in Allegany County are invited to participate and collect out-of-date telephone books and 19 did so this year. Allegany County Government compliments the students and schools for making this effort and the successful completion of this annual project. All recycled telephone books help Allegany County reach its’ 15% recycling goal, a mandate from the State of Maryland.
Sponsors
For the third year the Greater Cumberland Committee joined in the effort and solicited sponsorships from businesses. The sponsors were: ACT Personnel Services, Coca-Cola, Interstate Waste, Queen City Business Systems, Mel’s Business Systems, PharmaCare Network, Waste Management, and the Western Maryland Health System.
Because of the sponsorships, a cash prize can be awarded to every participating school - $5 for every 100 telephone books collected. The grand prize is $200. The cash prizes are to be used to promote “green” environmental practices at the schools. The Greater Cumberland Committee and the Solid Waste Management Board specifically request that schools utilize all awards for “green” materials: purchase and plant trees, buy recycling bins, etc.
The campaign is based on a ratio of the total number of telephone books collected to the total number of students enrolled in the school. This year Bel Air Elementary School was the top recycler and won the $200 grand prize. Bel Air’s 219 students collected 2,010 telephone books, a ratio of over 9 (9.18) books per student, and also received $100 for this effort.
West Side was second; these 345 students collected 2,535 books, or, 7.35 books per student. Beall Elementary was third; these 415 students collected 2,105 books, or, 5.07 books per students. The other participating schools included Allegany, Bel Air, Braddock, Cash Valley, Center for Career and Technical Education, Cresaptown, Flintstone, Frost, George’s Creek, John Humbird, Mount Savage, Northeast, Parkside, South Penn, Washington, Westernport, and Westmar. These ratios for these schools were less than 5.0 books per student. In addition to the cash prizes awarded to Bel Air, cash prizes totaling $730 were given to all schools recycling 100 or more telephone books.
Overall, this annual campaign is educational and enhances awareness of both students and the community at large about the importance of recycling. It helps the environment because valuable landfill space is not utilized for these telephone books. In addition, the recycled material is reused to manufacture desirable products. Finally, this campaign provides additional funding to participating schools.
NOTE: Only Allegany County telephone books are accepted for the campaign. If Allegany County was included in a multi-county/multi-state telephone book, this are accepted for the campaign as well.
Recycling Program Information
The telephone book recycling campaign is one component of Allegany County’s successful recycling program. In addition to recycling standard newspapers, cans, glass, plastic, and other materials, Allegany County also operates a compost site.
Allegany County Government’s website, www.gov.allconet.org, has recycling information. From the homepage click “departments” – click “recycling.” The sections Recycling 101 and Recycling Sites are particularly useful.
bennett@allconet |
