The Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation announced this week that Midway Middle School will receive a 2012 first-place award for waste reduction and recycling. Those of us with Keep Liberty Beautiful are thrilled about this recognition for this outstanding school recycling program and the recognition for our community.
Joy Kennedy, club advisor for the MMS Builders Club, and club members spearhead the recycling effort at Midway Middle. Kennedy and the members collectively do an awesome job all year by keeping the recycling collection at the forefront in the minds of the students, staff and school families.
Winning awards for its recycling program is nothing new for this outstanding school. MMS previously won first-place state and national awards with Keep Georgia Beautiful and Keep America Beautiful, respectively, for a G.R.E.E.N. Milk-Recycling Project. MMS, along with Liberty Elementary and First Methodist Preschool and Kindergarten, also placed among the top schools nationally in the Return the Warmth Recycling Competition a few years ago.
Midway Middle currently recycles more than 80 types of items and does it well. But MMS started a new national competition this week, and it needs your help! MMS will be participating with 1,400 other schools across the nation in Recycle-Bowl! The national competition — sponsored by Keep America Beautiful and several national partners, including Nestle Waters North America and Recommunity — encourages recycling programs in schools. Although the competition itself is short-term — it runs through Nov. 9 — the benefits have a long-term impact. Competition creates excitement, and excitement often creates greater participation in contests, so the goal of the Recycle-Bowl is to encourage greater enthusiasm for recycling in schools. And I think we all know what happens when our kids get interested in something: They make sure we recycle at home, too!
Midway Middle is competing in the community category, so they need your help to make a big impression nationally. Please help them recycle these items through Nov. 9:
• Plastic bottles
• Aluminum cans
• ‘Tin’ cans
• Paper
Recycle bins are outside the school, but contact Joy Kennedy at 884-6677 or mkennedy@liberty.k12.ga.us to let her know that you want to help! Recycling is the easiest, most effective thing anyone can do to protect natural resources, conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. Recycling also creates jobs and stimulates our economy. And friendly competition is a proven way to motivate young people — and often, us older people, too — toward adopting sustainable behaviors. Your family or your workplace can support their program by participating in this collection!
Who knows? You may catch the recycling bug, too!
Upcoming Keep Liberty Beautiful events
Saturday, Oct. 27 — Liberty County’s seventh annual Rivers Alive events, 8:30 a.m-12:30 p.m. Rivers Alive is part of a statewide waterway cleanup. Volunteer to help care for more than 30 locations and protect our waters and wetlands. The first 450 registered volunteers will receive official Rivers Alive T-shirts. Liberty’s Rivers Alive is a Make-a-Difference Day event. To volunteer or for more information, call 880-4888 or email klcb@coastalnow.net.