Local Schools Compete in Recycling Contest

Target Recycling at School is a recycling collection program and environmental education program the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority offers to local schools. During the 2025-26 school year, more than 34 local schools participated in the program and collected their paper and cardboard for local recycling.

During this school year, we had a 5-month contest period from August 2025 through December 2025. Schools competed in one of 3 categories: Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, and High Schools. Schools competed against students of the same age. Each category has a first, second and most-improved winner.

Schools are compared by recycling rate, which is calculated by dividing the number of students by the weight of recyclables collected. This lets us know how many pounds were recycled per student.

In addition to reducing waste, school recycling programs help students build habits they can carry home and into adulthood. When students see paper being collected each week and understand where those materials go, they get to see first-hand the benefits of their work. Small actions repeated by hundreds of students each day create a significant long-term impact. Millions of pounds of paper and cardboard has been recycled thanks to years of this program running in our schools.

During this contest period our schools collected 279,940 pounds of recyclable materials, mostly paper, for an average of 13.8 pounds recycled per student. That’s the weight equivalent of about 4 empty school buses and saves 233 cubic yards of landfill space.

The top schools for 2025-26 in the elementary school category were Northstar in first place and most improved, Learning Tree School in second place.

For middle schools, the winners were Valley Point Middle in first place and Most Improved and Westside Middle in second place.

For high schools, Dalton High School was first place and Most Improved, Coahulla Creek High School 2nd place.

To encourage recycling efforts within the schools, the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority is awarding them with classroom recycling bins, carts to carry the recyclables on and pizza party celebrations.

Throughout the year, teachers and staff are reminded that Target Recycling at School facilitates recycling by providing an outdoor container to collect paper for recycling. About once a week, or as needed, the container is weighed and emptied by the recycling truck.

Even though recycling collection is provided, it’s up to each school to decide how to manage recycling collection inside. Part of what makes the program successful is that it is designed to be easy for schools to join. Once an outdoor recycling container is placed on site, schools can build an internal collection routine that works best for their students and staff.

To make a recycling program really successful, there has to be a person in the school responsible for running the program during the school year. Usually, this is the teacher or staff person that leads the school’s green team or Earth Club. Schools that have gone above and beyond the minimal recycling requirements have done so because the recycling program is part of the culture of the school. 

A free environmental education program provided by Target Recycling at School further supports school recycling programs and many schools take advantage of this program. This lets students visit the recycling center and landfill to see why recycling matters in-person or the educator can visit in the schools and bring the learning to them.

The benefits of school recycling extend beyond the school walls. Materials collected on campus are materials kept out of the landfill, and students who learn proper recycling habits often carry those habits home to their families. In that way, school participation helps strengthen recycling awareness across the entire Dalton-Whitfield community while helping us take up less landfill space with recyclable materials.

School recycling programs help establish community norms, teach individual responsibility and environmental stewardship, give participants a hands-on learning experience and make a difference in reducing the amount of waste produced at the school. Recycling is an all-inclusive activity that the whole school can rally around all year long.

     Amy Hartline is the recycling and education program coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. Have a recycling question? Contact her at (706) 278-5001 or ahartline@dwswa.org.