York Students Have Fun Recycling 16 Tons

Story by Jennifer A. McCary

Students at York Adventist Christian School stand before a tiny fraction of their recycling haul.

For three years straight, students at York Adventist Christian School in York, Pa., have participated in national school recycling programs. Last year for the first time, they participated in the Keep America Beautiful Recycle Bowl. Students at 1,500 schools nationwide were challenged to collect one ton of paper, plastic, glass and aluminum recyclables in just one month. While York students had ranked high in previous competitions, their teachers say this was a “crazy, almost unbelievable goal.”

The first week of collections started sporadically, but by the second week, the students caught the vision and were unstoppable! In fact, the students became so excited that every morning they would wait in line at the front door to have their recycling items weighed and added to the ever-growing recycling pile.

They were even able to bless others just by collecting what most would consider trash. While in the midst of their recycling project, people began to notice the school’s rather substantial contributions to the recycling center and at the end of their driveway. The manager of Penn Waste came to the school to see what the students were up to! He thought the recycling competition was a great idea. The school also offered cardboard boxes free to several, grateful families who were moving. Students even gave the local Salvation Army their cardboard so they could recycle it and receive money for their community programs.

After all of the bags, bottles and boxes were tabulated, the students had collected more than 16 tons of recycling! They came in first in their division, and collected $1,000 in prize money!