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Schools, County Teaming Up To Recycle

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 12, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Recycling that stack of newspapers just became easier.

The Pasco County School District and county government have teamed up to improve newspaper recycling programs, providing drop-off points for the public at 35 schools across the county.

"I'm thrilled the schools have been willing to participate," said Jennifer Seney, the county's recycling coordinator.

The county doesn't have curbside newspaper recycling and it had just seven newspaper drop-off locations before joining forces with the schools, Seney said.

Karen Bryant, the school district's recycling coordinator, said schools have been involved for years in newspaper recycling, but participation came mostly from parents, grandparents and people who lived near the campuses.

She hopes that promoting newspaper recycling in conjunction with the county will increase the recycling traffic at the 35 participating schools, which also would mean more money for them.

Land O' Lakes Recycling provides the containers and pays the schools monthly for the newspapers that are recycled. The amount depends on the tonnage and the rate newspapers bring on the market that month.

Some schools have earned as much as $7,000 in a year by recycling newspapers.
Seney said principals were asked whether they wanted to participate. She said not all the schools wanted to open their campuses to the public for drop-offs, which she understood, but she was pleasantly surprised by how many agreed to become involved.

At one point she heard about a dozen schools wanted to do it and she thought that sounded good.

"We ended up with 35 schools, and I thought, 'Holy Toledo,'

" Seney said.

Newspapers make up about 5 percent of the total solid waste flowing out of homes and businesses, she said, and paper products generally account for 33 percent.

What's not recycled ends up in the county's waste-to-energy incinerator, which is over capacity.
Seney said she and Bryant have known each other for years, and when Seney was hired as the county's recycling coordinator in May they immediately began to discuss projects the county and schools could work on together.

Their first thought, Seney said, was to look at programs already in place that could be improved, and newspaper recycling fell into that category.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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