High School Recycling Competition to Begin May 1 In Centre County

The Centre County Solid Waste Authority, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania, is sponsoring a recycling competition between Bald Eagle, Bellefonte, Penns Valley & Philipsburg-Osceola High Schools.

 

This recycling competition, called “GreenSylvania,” will be held during the month of May.

 

Students, staff and faculty will participate in this competition to see which school can recycle the most paper, plastic, metal, cardboard and glass per capita. The school that recycles the most at the end of the competition will be awarded with a $500 case prize to be donated toward their Environmental or Conservation Club. In addition, the winning school will be awarded a trophy made from recycled materials and have bragging rights for the whole year.

 

“At the state level, we are working to develop county-wide recycling education programs like the GreenSylvania initiative so that all of our citizens, residents and businesses get a consistent message about recycling throughout the Commonwealth,” said Carl Hursh, Waste Reduction and Recycling, DEP.

 

GreenSylvania is an outgrowth of national RecycleMania competitions on college campuses that started in 2001. Under RecycleMania, schools collect data on recycling and trash. Schools are ranked in various categories such as largest amount of recyclables per capita, largest amount of total recyclables, least amount of trash per capita and highest recycling rate.

 

Last year, 400 colleges and universities participated in the popular event including 40 in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania now has more participating schools than any other state.

 

For more information, visit the GreenSylvania webpage.