Mesquite Elementary Wins Top Honors in Recycling Competition

Sam Rutherford Elementary cuts waste pickup needs by more than half

A Mesquite elementary school recycled 19,657 pounds of trash in one month, earning it top honors in Texas.

Keep America Beautiful awarded Sam Rutherford Elementary School first place in its "Recyle-Bowl" competition.

"My school is incredible, and I know that they are capacitated to do something like that," student Iris Guzman said.

On average, each student in the competition recycled about 5 pounds of material, but the Mesquite students averaged 38 pounds each.

"I'm really excited, because we actually beat out a lot of schools, and that makes us one of the best," student Czoey White said.

The school has cut its waste pickup needs by more than half.

"They made a conscious effort in their classrooms to recycle their papers," Principal Holly Grubbs said. "We use so much paper every single day, so they made a conscious effort to not throw it in the trash can and instead in the recycle bin."

"It also provided a teaching moment for educators to talk about math and science and English around the topic of recycling," said Kelley Dennings, of Keep America Beautiful.

Students were awarded a $1,000 check for their efforts. They said they want to make sure it doesn't go to waste.

"I would donate the other half to charity and spend the rest of something exciting like games," student Chris Smith said.

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