NEWS RELEASE
Release date: May 7, 2004
Contact: Caron Blanton, Mississippi Department of Education, (601) 359-3706 or Jackie Walburn, Weyerhaeuser, 334-963-2270 or [cell] (334) 636-7753
Schools share $10,000 in Mississippi Recycling Awards from Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation
Mississippi schoolchildren — recycling everything from aluminum cans to used printer cartridges and computers — earned their schools a total of $10,000 as winners of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation's 2004 Mississippi Recycling Awards.
Charles Chisolm, director of Mississippi's Department of Environmental Quality, was the featured speaker as eight Mississippi schools were recognized as recycling award winners at a luncheon Wednesday, April 28, at the Old Capitol Inn.
“We all need to adopt the concept of sustainability and make decisions for the benefit of our grandchildren and their grandchildren, decisions which are good today and in 2050 and 2075,” said DEQ's Chisolm, who spoke to the luncheon crowd of students and teachers from the winning schools, state legislators and Weyerhaeuser managers. “Recycling is very much a part of sustainability and an example of a decision which will continue to benefit us all.”
He praised Weyerhaeuser Company's environmental performance and the winning recycling programs as “epitomizing what we are talking about as sustainability.”
The 2004 recycling award winners are:
Alcorn Vocational Technical Center in Corinth and Thrasher High School in Booneville, $2,000 winners for excellence in existing programs; Chastain Middle School and French Elementary in Jackson, Madison Middle School in Madison and Utica Elementary in Utica, $1,000 each for expansion of existing recycling programs; Carthage High School and West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville, $1,000 each for new re cycling programs.
The awards are a cooperative effort between the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation and the Mississippi Department of Education.
The award-winning school-based recycling programs recognized were:
Alcorn Vocational Technical Center in Corinth , where students recycle and repair donated obsolete and non-working computers. The Computer Systems Technology (CST) students refurbish the used computers and install new parts, then deliver and set up the refurbished PCs at local schools. The $2,000 award will be used to purchase replacement computer parts for the computer recycling project.
Thrasher High School in Booneville , where second grade students operate a recycling house program. The recycling house, which includes a new nature room, has been organized to store and sort recyclable items. The recycling house also serves as a reference library. Thrasher's award will be invested in the continuing operation of the recycling house program.
Chastain Middle School in Jackson , where students are expanding an outdoor garden recycling program as a part of an ongoing Total School Recycle Program. In ongoing science projects, student teams investigate waste and waste management, including an anti-litter campaign. Chastain Middle School's award will be used to obtain paper shredders, various plants and gardening tools.
French Elementary in Jackson , where students of Open Doors are promoting life-long recycling with three projects: Clean Green School, The Green Flag Club (through Mississippi 2020) and recycling empty printer cartridges. French Elementary will use its funds to purchase videos for the library, create planet appreciation kits and buy materials for Earth Day Extravaganza.
Madison Middle School in Madison , where students are researching the internet and interviewing government officials on ways to improve community and school recycling efforts, as background for producing and distributing a pamphlet on the subject. Cell phone and printer cartridge recycling will continue, with the addition of a school-wide plastics recycling program. Award funds will be used to purchase recycling containers for plastics and to pay for the printing of the pamphlet.
Utica Elementary in Utica , where students are expanding their current paper and plastic recycling program to include aluminum and ink cartridges. The program will be introduced at a Recycling Rally, followed by a Community Pickup Party including area business leaders and community members. Utica's elementary student council will manage the school's recycling program. Funds will be used to purchase additional bins and provide rewards for participants.
Carthage High School in Carthage , where Beta Club students recycle bottles and cans and use the proceeds for a campus beautification project. Award funds will purchase new campus garbage containers and be saved for a planned “rainy day” covered area for the school.
West Lauderdale High School in Collinsville , where students are designing a complex and diverse recycling program to include aluminum, cardboard, glass, newspaper, magazines, mixed paper, plastic, tin/steel and yard waste. The award will be used to purchase bins, awareness banners and posters, and recognition plaques.
The mission of the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, which funds the awards, is to improve the quality of life in communities where Weyerhaeuser has a presence. Since 1948, the Foundation has directed more than $162 million to the communities where Weyerhaeuser employees work, live and play. Nationwide, the Foundation's annual philanthropic budget totals $10 million.
In Mississippi, Weyerhaeuser employs about 1,700 people and manages more than 625,000 acres of forestland, all certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative™ standard. Weyerhaeuser operates a pulp and paper complex and modified fiber operation at Columbus, box plants at Jackson, Magnolia and Olive Branch, lumber mills at McComb, Bruce and Philadelphia, a building materials customer center at Gulfport, and timberlands management units at Bellefontaine, Columbus, Scooba and Columbia.
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