Nine Kent residents go for gold as King County launches ‘Neighborhood Recycling Relay’

Fun neighborhood competition seeks to raise awareness of recycling at home

A competition of Olympic proportions was held today in a Kent neighborhood, and the winning team in the King County Solid Waste Division’s “Recycling Relay” neighborhood competition was crowned as the savviest recyclers in their community.

Nine Kent residents rolled up their sleeves in a friendly competition to see which team knows the most about recycling by competing in King County’s Neighborhood Recycling Relay challenge.

Sponsored by the King County Solid Waste Division as part of its 2009 “Recycle More. It’s Easy to Do” public education campaign about recycling at home, the Recycling Relay involved an enormous pile of trash, three shopping carts and recycling bins.

Three teams worked to sort through the trash and quickly put items into the right bin. At the end of 10 minutes, the team with the most recyclables in the right bin claimed their Recycling Champion gold medal of achievement.

“Most people don’t know they can recycle wrapping paper in their recycle bin and cardboard delivery pizza boxes in their yard waste cart, while plastic clamshell take out containers are garbage, and so is pet waste,” said Tom Watson, King County’s Ecoconsumer, who was on hand to judge the contestants and provide tips for easy recycling at home.

“We’re thrilled that Kent was chosen for this effort,” said Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke. “Kent residents recycle, but we can always do more. My goal is to challenge our residents to reach our recycling target of 45 percent by 2015. I’m confident that if we all make small changes, we can collectively make a big difference to improve the environment and keep landfill costs low.”

Although 87 percent of King County residents say they participate in their curbside recycling program, more than half of what ends up in King County’s Cedar Hills Regional Landfill is readily recyclable. Food scraps and food-soiled paper make up more than 30 percent of residential garbage.

“We want to encourage everyone to recycle more” said Gerty Coville, King County program manager. “We can all do more to reduce waste by increasing our recycling, and it is great to have these neighbors take the challenge.”

First place in today’s competition went to “The Dream Green Team,” which was composed of Dawn Hardley, Carrie Fjeld and Maria Garcia, three co-workers who are also avid recyclers.

Finishing a close second was Team Eco-Challengers, with Margaret Reid and her sons, Danny and Matt.

Taking the bronze medal in the Recycling Relay was the “Green Queen and Her Teens,” headed up by Krissy Kenneally, and featuring her daughter, Hannah, and Hannah’s friend Anika Giske.

“My kids’ school went ‘green’ this year, and I realized they know more about recycling than I do,” Kenneally said. “I’m constantly asking the kids where to put things. I’m excited to play this game to learn more about proper recycling.”

King County residents can increase their recycling by following a few simple steps:

• Know what recyclables are in the garbage;
• Set up a convenient recycling location or two at home;
• Involve the entire family in recycling;
• Make an effort to clean out recyclable containers; and
• Add food scraps to yard waste bins (in select cities).

For more information about recycling in King County, visit http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/garbage-recycling/recycle-more.asp.

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