Wake County Schools honored for recycling program

The American Forest & Paper Association presented its School Recycling Award to Wake County during a Board of Commissioners meeting Monday. The annual award recognizes a successful and innovative program as part of efforts to promote and encourage paper recycling in schools, businesses and communities.

Wake County’s FEED THE BIN program serves more than 135,000 students in 152 schools. The program provides recycling bins for classrooms and offices, and emphasizes student participation. During the 2007-2008 school year, 800 tons of paper were collected for recycling.

Thanks to programs like FEED THE BIN, AF&PA recently announced a record-high 57.4 percent of the paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling in 2008.