Weyerhaeuser News Release

Mississippi students collected tons of paper, aluminum cans, ink cartridges, cell phones, cardboard, Styrofoam and much more to be named the best recycling programs in the state.

The awards recognize their efforts and encourage other schools to start recycling programs. The awards are a partnership between Weyerhaeuser, a forest products company and the world’s top paper recycler, and the Mississippi Department of Education.

The 2007 Recycling Award winners are:

• Division A, existing recycling programs: Booneville High School in Booneville, the $2,000 grand prize winner.
• Division B, expanding recycling programs: Alcorn Central Elementary School, Glen; Brandon Middle School, Brandon; Itawamba Middle School, Fulton; Puckett Attendance Center, Puckett; Thrasher School, Booneville ($1,000 award winners).
• Division C, new recycling programs: Grenada Middle School, Grenada; Newton Municipal School District, Newton; and Grenada Upper Elementary, Grenada; ($1,000 award winners).

Schools can apply for the “Excellence in Recycling” Awards through the Mississippi Department of Education’s student organization department.

Teachers and students from award-winning schools were recognized at a luncheon Sept. 12 at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson, where guest speakers were Trudy Fisher, executive director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, and Martez Hill, deputy superintendent of the Mississippi Department of Education. State legislators Rep. Dannie Reed and Sen. Lydia Chassaniol also attended.

“Recycling is often talked about in a feel-good way,” said Fisher, who noted the MDEQ has recycling statistics and resources on its website at www.deq.state.ms.us/MDEQ.nsf, “but these students are doing it -- recycling in a way that sets an example for adults and their communities.” She praised the recycling awards as a way for students to educate their communities on the value of recycling, so that “recycling becomes a way of life.”

Winners and their projects are:

• Grand prize winner Booneville High School collected newspaper, magazines, plastic bottles, printer cartridges and batteries. Students hope to use the prize money to publicize their program in the community and to purchase storage containers.
• Alcorn Central Elementary School will have an Earth Day Fair, poster contest and guest speakers to supplement its recycling program. They are inviting every business in the area to join the recycling effort and supplying recycling boxes for them.
• The Beta Club at Brandon Middle School is sponsoring its recycling program and will purchase bins for weekly collections. Students will earn community service hours as they collect paper, cans, plastic and printer cartridges.
• ItawambaMiddle School will purchase a local newspaper ad as one way to publicize its recycling program. Collections will include aluminum cans, newspapers, magazines and paper.
• Puckett Attendance Center is expanding a recycling program with emphasis on education across the curriculum to include science, math, art, reading and technology. Students will recycle paper and plastic.
• Thrasher School, a five-time recycling award winner, continued recycling Styrofoam trays, paper bags, milk jugs, aluminum cans and more at its Recycling House on campus. All 400 students participate and have organized an advertising campaign for America Recycle Day.
• GrenadaMiddle School is starting a recycling program for cardboard and paper. Recycling bins will be purchased, and the collections will be taken to a recycling company.
• Newton Municipal School District is also starting a recycling program and will collect used paper and recycle it in the classroom. The paper will be redistributed to students.
• Like its sister school, Grenada Middle, Grenada Upper Elementary plans to recycle  cardboard and paper. Teachers and students will transfer the recycled material into the collection bins each day, and proceeds from the sale will return to the classroom to promote conservation education.

The Mississippi recycling awards have been sponsored for more than 10 years by the Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, which has a mission to improve the quality of life in communities where Weyerhaeuser has a presence. Since 1948, the Foundation has directed nearly $185 million to the communities where Weyerhaeuser employees work, live and play. Nationwide, the Foundation's annual philanthropic budget totals $10 million.

In Mississippi, Weyerhaeuser employs about 1,700 people and manages more than 778,000 acres of forestland, all certified to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)™ standard.  Weyerhaeuser operates a cellulose fiber mill and modified fiber operation at Columbus, box plants at Jackson, Magnolia and Olive Branch, iLevel lumber mills at McComb, Bruce and Philadelphia, an iLevel Service Center at Gulfport, and timberlands management units at McComb, Bellefontaine, Columbus, Scooba, Hillsdale and Columbia.