THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604250168
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 34 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Tina Marin had collected and helped to recycle 20,116 aluminum cans as of March 31. That is but a small portion of the 630 million cans collected statewide by Reynolds Recycling, the recycling arm of the huge Reynolds Metals Co. which operates 53 recycling centers throughout Virginia.
Of course, the company is a little bigger and possesses greater resources than Tina. She turns 9 Monday and is a third-grader at North Landing Elementary. To get an idea of the prodigious amount of cans she has recycled, understand that the student in second place at her school, Brittany Fox, has collected 6,764 cans. Brittany is an 8-year-old second-grader.
The enthusiastic efforts of Tina, Brittany and the other 750 or so students catapulted North Landing into the top position among schools in eastern Virginia, from Richmond to the Beach. Windsor Oaks Elementary School was in fourth place as of March 31.
The contest is sponsored by Reynolds Recycling, which will bestow cash prizes on the winning school. The competition will be tabulated two ways, said Mark Parker, Reynolds Recycling specialist for central and eastern Virginia.
Schools can win by overall amount of cans. There will also be a prize for the school with the greatest amount per student.
This keeps the contest fair, allows smaller schools to compete with larger schools. A first-place prize of $300 will go to a winner in each category.
The company has rewarded state recyclers to the tune of $9.7 million, said Parker. That also kept 12,750 tons - or 20,500 garbage-truckloads of cans - out of landfills.
North Landing has collected 4,499 pounds of aluminum since last April, said Ann Alexander, a teacher at the school and coordinator of the recycling effort. The school collects the cans on the third Wednesday of every month and maintains an on-site trailer for recycling. Parents and students can drop off cans from 8 until 9 a.m. The trailer was open from 3 until 6 p.m. on April 24 for a final push toward the contest, said Alexander.
The Reynolds contest ends the first week in May and will be tied in with Earth Day on May 5.
Parker said that the cans dropped off at a recycling center go from there to Williamsburg to Alabama and back on the shelf in six weeks.
Reynolds pioneered recycling in California in 1968, Parker said. They learned some valuable lessons:
``Having manned centers helps. The people can drop off their cans, have them weighed and have the money when they leave. So our centers are convenient and offer immediate reward, especially money.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY EDWARDS
Mark Parker, Reynolds Recycling specialist, says the company has
rewarded state recyclers to the tune of $9.7 million.
by CNB