Paying Kids to Recycle

What’s the worst kind of SUD? The kind that ends up in a landfill, park, or waterway when it could have been recycled.

Many SUDs have low recycling rates. Americans generate an average of 4.6 pounds of waste per person per day, up from 2.7 in 1960. Much of this growth comes from an increase in single use disposable products as our lives get faster and faster. And Public Enemy # 1 (PET water bottles) only get recycled at a rate of 28%.

So we’re pretty excited for Keep America Beautiful’s Recycle Bowl.

The American public school system has more than one issue, and being slow to get on the recycling bandwagon is one of them. (Many schools are reducing energy usage and expenses, though!)

So Keep America Beautiful is launching the Recycle-Bowl, a nationwide competition to increase recycling rates in K-12 schools.

Schools with the highest recycling rates will be awarded cash prizes in January! All runners up will have recycling programs at their schools.