Elk Grove, Ca. - On California Recycles Day, state residents can take a lesson from Matt Johnson’s sixth grade class at Joseph Sims Elementary School and their new partner, Rubbermaid Commercial Products.

The class, under Johnson’s direction, created a program that recycles roughly 3,000 pounds of paper, plastic and aluminum, each month exemplifying the objectives of California Recycles Day – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Buy Recycled.

"Previously, many of the teachers recycled paper waste from their classrooms on an individual basis," said Johnson. Last year, Johnson and his class took it to the next level and created a school-wide recycling program. Students placed dedicated recycling containers throughout the school – in classrooms, workrooms, the staff lounge, library, computer lab and administrative office. This year, the makeshift cardboard boxes used as collection containers will be replaced with 115 durable plastic recycling containers from Rubbermaid Commercial Products.

The sixth graders identified Rubbermaid as a potential partner when they noticed the company logo on various waste receptacles throughout the school. The students then mounted a letter-writing campaign to the company to solicit the products.

"We applaud the efforts of the Joseph Sims Elementary School and are pleased to make their recycling efforts easier," said Karl Harrison, president, Rubbermaid Commercial Products. "Providing innovative products that deliver superior functionality is Rubbermaid’s objective."

"The Rubbermaid products will be much easier for the students to handle, and compared to the cardboard containers we were using, will look better, take up less space and wear much better over time," said Johnson.

The new Rubbermaid containers will help increase program efficiency. They’ll be easier for the students to handle and more durable than the cardboard boxes they were using. One week each month at the school is "Recycling Week." Students collect the individual containers and deposit the materials into a central bin in the parking lot provided by Recycling Industries, Sacramento. Parents and members of the community are also encouraged to deposit recyclable materials during "Recycling Week.". At the end of the week the bin is then taken to a processing center. The program has been a resounding success with students collecting more recyclables each and every month.

"We now have 100 percent participation from the school and our parent community has grown in awareness of and familiarity with the program," said Johnson.

What’s next? Johnson has shared his successful program with the 49 other schools in the school district and three schools will be implementing recycling programs in 2003.

"We’ve had tremendous response from teachers and administrators asking for more details about the program," said Johnson. "We are striving to become the best possible model for a district of more than 52,000 students."

In addition to providing a valuable lesson in environmentalism, the profits from the program have funded a student scholarship program that helps pay for field trips.