School named top recycler
St. Francis top school, Holy Rosary finishes number 2
Sunday, April 27, 2008

Mark Miller BEST PROGRAM – St. Francis Central School in Toronto was named as having the best school recycling program in Jefferson County for the first winter quarter by officials with Keep Jefferson County Beautiful. The school was congratulated and presented with a check for $885 for recycling 29,501 pounds of paper during the quarter. Those on hand to commemorate the event included, from left, Marian Barker, principal of St. Francis School; Patrick Lanaghan, executive director of the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority; Diane Julio, director of Keep Jefferson County Beautiful; and Mike Biasi, president of Valley Converting Co.

TORONTO — St. Francis Central School has been named the top recycling school in Jefferson County for the winter quarter by officials with Keep Jefferson County Beautiful.

The school, which began its recycling program in September of last year, also broke the school recycling record in Jefferson County by recycling 29,501 pounds, earning the school $885, according to Diane Julio, Keep Jefferson County Beautiful director.

“During the third and fourth quarters of 2007 the school recycled 15,975 pounds of paper,” said Julio. “This quarter the school recycled 29,501 pounds of paper receiving $885. The school has set a new record for the amount of paper recycled on one quarter,” Julio continued.

“Holy Rosary Central School was the next highest recycler for the quarter, recycling 23,527 pounds of paper. During the first quarter of 2008, 347,120 pounds of paper were recycled (during the school program).”

Julio said the agency’s recycling program, a division of the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority, has grown from 20,000 pounds recycled annually in 1995 in Jefferson County to more than 1 million pounds in 2007. She added the goal this year was to recycle 1.5 million pounds of paper.

The recycling school program has 27 schools and one university participating in Jefferson County, according to Julio. She added all paper is collected by the agency and taken to Valley Converting Co. in Toronto to be recycled.

Participating schools are paid for the amount of paper collected and recycled before being declared the top collector, Julio noted.

“Schools are judged on how well their recycled paper products are contained, amount of participation generated in their recycling activity and whether there’s unwanted, non-recyclable materials in their paper containers and if the bags weigh more than 50 pounds.”

Julio said the number of recycled materials St. Francis collected was impressive.

“This really is the second full quarter St. Francis has been in the program, and they have numbers like that,” said Julio.

Patrick Lanaghan, executive director of the Jefferson-Belmont Regional Solid Waste Authority, also said he was impressed by the recycling numbers racked up by the school.

“It’s always great to see how the schools and the community work together for recycling,” said Lanaghan. “I see how fast the program has grown here at St. Francis. It says a lot about the school, church and the community.”

As appeared in the Herald Star