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By Jean Braithwaite
Tribune Correspondent
KEYSER - With new area and regional phonebooks presently being distributed, students from Frankfort and Keyser high schools are participating in a contest to determine which school can collect the most used phonebooks for recycling purposes.
At the recent meeting of the Mineral County Litter Control Task Force, County Commission President Wayne Spiggle suggested the challenge between the two county schools as a way to “celebrate the fact that the students are taking a lead in recycling.”
Already in place at Keyser High School is a group, headed up by teacher Tabby Woy, in addition to the students at Frankfort, under the direction of John Ritchie, who have been practicing recycling efforts for several months.
Spiggle also mentioned that as a motivational tool for the students, cash prizes will be distributed to the two recycling clubs at the end of the contest that is running from now until Thursday, April 30.
Representatives of NewPage and ATK were present at the task force meeting, and each industry is donating $250 toward the phonebook recycling contest.
At the end of the contest, arrangements have been made to transport the collected phonebooks to Scott Brothers Recycling, located in Paw Paw.
For more information, interested persons should contact either Woy or Ritchie at either school.
Wes Foor, safety and environmental manager at ATK, stated he was familiar with a collection of used phonebooks at the school in nearby Bel Air, where over 1,000 books were gathered to be recycled.
Foor was on hand at the task force meeting to present information concerning recycling accomplishments at ATK.
Stating that recycling through a We Care Program that began in the late 1980s at ATK, Foor stated, “We can help the community at large by focusing on the industrial aspects of recycling.”
Giving a listing of statistics, Foor mentioned that ATK’s shredded office paper was at one time transported to several Maryland counties to be recycled, “but the market went to the bottom.”
He stated that now the shredded paper is used for mulch, pointing out that one person he knows of uses the material for fishing worm beds.
Adding to this, Foor said in 2003, 1,363 tons of scrap metal was recycled, in comparison to 1,811 tons in 2008, in addition to 1.2 tons of electronics now being recycled compared to none in 2003.
“Going from short term to longer service life batteries has caused the amount of disposal of waste batteries to drop from 2.5 tons in 2003 to three-fourths ton in 2008,” Foor said.
Giving a Powerpoint presentation of NewPage’s environmental stewardship was Patsy Koontz, public relations manager, who said, “Green practices start with each of us.”
Telling about a newly-formed Rapid Lean Six Sigma team that enables productivity and growth, Koontz said, “The environment is important to NewPage, the employees, customers, and the community.”
She also mentioned that as part of Lean Six Sigma, a focus centered on reducing waste, finding and working toward a solution, while engaging employees for ideas.
Citing that a recycling program for office waste and cardboard was kicked off on March 17, Koontz said at the present interviews are being conducted to determine the company that will purchase the materials.
She stated that through the efforts of recycling at NewPage, “A significant savings will be realized due to the savings of tipping fees at the landfill, along with fewer trips for disposal purposes.”
By Jean Braithwaite
Tribune Correspondent
KEYSER - With new area and regional phonebooks presently being distributed, students from Frankfort and Keyser high schools are participating in a contest to determine which school can collect the most used phonebooks for recycling purposes.
At the recent meeting of the Mineral County Litter Control Task Force, County Commission President Wayne Spiggle suggested the challenge between the two county schools as a way to “celebrate the fact that the students are taking a lead in recycling.”
Already in place at Keyser High School is a group, headed up by teacher Tabby Woy, in addition to the students at Frankfort, under the direction of John Ritchie, who have been practicing recycling efforts for several months.
Spiggle also mentioned that as a motivational tool for the students, cash prizes will be distributed to the two recycling clubs at the end of the contest that is running from now until Thursday, April 30.
Representatives of NewPage and ATK were present at the task force meeting, and each industry is donating $250 toward the phonebook recycling contest.
At the end of the contest, arrangements have been made to transport the collected phonebooks to Scott Brothers Recycling, located in Paw Paw.
For more information, interested persons should contact either Woy or Ritchie at either school.
Wes Foor, safety and environmental manager at ATK, stated he was familiar with a collection of used phonebooks at the school in nearby Bel Air, where over 1,000 books were gathered to be recycled.
Foor was on hand at the task force meeting to present information concerning recycling accomplishments at ATK.
Stating that recycling through a We Care Program that began in the late 1980s at ATK, Foor stated, “We can help the community at large by focusing on the industrial aspects of recycling.”
Giving a listing of statistics, Foor mentioned that ATK’s shredded office paper was at one time transported to several Maryland counties to be recycled, “but the market went to the bottom.”
He stated that now the shredded paper is used for mulch, pointing out that one person he knows of uses the material for fishing worm beds.
Adding to this, Foor said in 2003, 1,363 tons of scrap metal was recycled, in comparison to 1,811 tons in 2008, in addition to 1.2 tons of electronics now being recycled compared to none in 2003.
“Going from short term to longer service life batteries has caused the amount of disposal of waste batteries to drop from 2.5 tons in 2003 to three-fourths ton in 2008,” Foor said.
Giving a Powerpoint presentation of NewPage’s environmental stewardship was Patsy Koontz, public relations manager, who said, “Green practices start with each of us.”
Telling about a newly-formed Rapid Lean Six Sigma team that enables productivity and growth, Koontz said, “The environment is important to NewPage, the employees, customers, and the community.”
She also mentioned that as part of Lean Six Sigma, a focus centered on reducing waste, finding and working toward a solution, while engaging employees for ideas.
Citing that a recycling program for office waste and cardboard was kicked off on March 17, Koontz said at the present interviews are being conducted to determine the company that will purchase the materials.
She stated that through the efforts of recycling at NewPage, “A significant savings will be realized due to the savings of tipping fees at the landfill, along with fewer trips for disposal purposes.”
