Two schools in the Trinity South region claimed $2,000 cash prizes and proved thir commitment to the environment during the Multi-Materials Stewardship Board’s (MMSB) Top Your Total School Contest.
Perlwin Elementary in Winterton and Crescent Collegiate in Blaketown each claimed one of nine major prizes up for grabs among the roughly 200 schools throughout the province that took part in the contest.
Perlwin won a "silver award" for the Avalon region for having the highest percentage increase of beverage containers collected during the month of March.
Crescent also took a silver award (Avalon region) for the largest number of containers collected.
There were four silver awards handed out in each category.
The overall winner was Northern Lights Academy in Rigolet.
A impressive 4.2 million used beverage containers were collected during the contest, effectively reducing our province’s carbon emissions by more than 230 metric tonnes, which is equivalent to planting over 210,000 trees.
“I would like to congratulate all these schools for helping protect our environment," said Terry French, the Minister of Environment and Conservation and the Minister Responsible for the MMSB.
Launched in March, the Top Your Total School Contest was open to all K-12 schools throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. The contest challenged schools to recycle more beverage containers during the month of March than their average monthly number of containers recycled during the previous school year.
“All of the children, their teachers and those that participated in the contest should be very proud of their efforts," added Leigh Puddester, Chair and CEO, MMSB.
"In fact, we had such a positive response to the contest that we decided to add an additional level of prizing for the school in each of the four regions of the province that recycled the largest volume of beverage containers.”
The MMSB offered a gold prize of $10,000 to the school that had the highest percentage increase over their previous Top Your Total figure. In addition, the MMSB offered the top-performing schools from the four regions of the province a $2,000 cash prize, and each school that exceeded their total from last year also received an extra five cent payment for every container above the Top Your Total figure.
Through the contest, the MMSB is making a financial contribution of more than $600,000 to schools province-wide.
“Contests like this reinforce stewardship outcomes that we teach in science classrooms where students from K-12 are encouraged to have a sense of personal and shared responsibility for the environment,” said Clyde Jackman, Minister of Education. “I want to acknowledge all students who took part in this initiative and I am confident they will continue these efforts in their schools, and communities.”
Since 2002, more than 120 million beverage containers have been collected and diverted from Newfoundland and Labrador landfills through MMSB’s school recycling program and as a result schools have raised more than $12.5 million in recycling refunds and matching grants provided by the MMSB.
Schools have reinvested those funds in a wide range of environmental and educational initiatives. MMSB’s school recycling program is one of the largest sources of fundraising for schools throughout the province.
