Tuscaloosa Environmental Services Announces Phone Book Recycling Winners

The top three performing schools and individual students at the elementary, middle & high school levels of the 2014 YP Cares phone book recycling contest have been announced!

The City of Tuscaloosa Environmental Services Department and YP Real Yellow Pages hosted the phone book recycling contest in January and February.

A press release from the City of Tuscaloosa reads,

Tuscaloosa City and Tuscaloosa County schools were asked to collect phone books for recycling for a share of $4,000 in cash prizes donated by YP. To engage the business community, Adopt-a-School partners were encouraged to gather outdated phone books to donate to local schools for YP Cares.

Over 16,000 phone books were collected throughout the drive, which equates to 20,000 pounds of phone books kept out of local landfills. All phone books collected through YP Cares are recycled at the City of Tuscaloosa Environmental Services Department recycling plant on Kauloosa Avenue. Recycled phone books can be made into useful products such as new phone books, roofing shingles, home insulation,cereal boxes and animal bedding.

The winning schools were selected based on the most phone books collected per student enrolled. The top three schools in each school system will receive $1,000, $600 and $400, respectively.

Tuscaloosa City School Winners

• 1st Place – Oakdale Elementary School
• 2nd Place – Arcadia Elementary School
• 3rd Place – Woodland Forrest Elementary School

Tuscaloosa County School Winners

• 1st Place – Cottondale Elementary School
• 2nd Place – Westwood Elementary School
• 3rd Place – Buhl Elementary School

Elementary students who collected 10 or more phone books were entered in a drawing for a PlayStation Portable. Middle school and high school students who collected 10 or more phone books will be entered in a drawing for Beats by Dre ear buds and headphones, respectively.

The winners of the individual prizes are:

• Kelsey Gaddy (over 1,690 phone books) of Westwood Elementary
• Callie Jameson (over 450 phone books) of Echols Middle School
• Jay Hubner (22 phone books) of Northridge High School

Elementary schools students who collected 100 or more phone books will receive prizes from YP Real Yellow Pages and a Little Ricky the Recycler stuffed animal, the mascot of the City of Tuscaloosa Environmental Services Department.

Students who collected 100 or more phonebooks are Kelsey Gaddy, Hunter Tunnell, Bentley Latner, Maggie Shewmake, Mary Ledbetter, William Orrell, Lauren Tapley, Iyanna Hasselvander, BrandonByrd, Tamara Chandler and Javone Jackson.

For more information about YP Cares and the City of Tuscaloosa’s recycling program, visit www.tuscaloosa.com/recycle or call Tuscaloosa 311 at 205-248-5311.