Tennessee Temple Academy officials teamed up with the Highland Park Neighborhood Association and Rock-Tenn Co. to start a paper recycling program. The kickoff will be Friday. "We see this as a form of education for our students that is not found in textbooks," said Rob Eldridge, development director. "This is a way to see how a community can get rallied around something." Tennessee Temple will maintain a paper recycling container at the school near Bailey Avenue and Hawthorne Street. Recyclables will be received every Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
School officials ask that participants put only paper in the container. Cardboard may be recycled at the Orange Grove Center recycling site, they said. Tennessee Temple Academy officials organized the recycling effort after Chattanooga officials said the city would limit its weekly curbside pickup program to once a month starting Jan. 1. City officials said they limited the program because of low participation, but they are investing $100,000 to educate the public about recycling in hopes that more people and groups get involved.
Michelle Michaud, Mayor Ron Littlefield’s spokeswoman, said the city appreciates Tennessee Temple’s efforts."This type of grass-roots effort is what we want to see in Chattanooga," she said. "We’re pleased that Tennessee Temple is taking a lead on that, and we hope that more organizations do the same." Shari Jump is one of several Highland Park residents planning to attend the program’s kickoff."Recycling is something we need to do instead of putting everything into a landfill," she said.
Rock-Tenn officials said there are several benefits to paper recycling. Sales representative Mike Fitzgerald said Americans trash about 44 million of the 62 million newspapers bought each day. That’s the same as about 500,000 trees dumped into landfills, he said. Mr. Fitzgerald said a ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water and enough energy to heat a home for six months. Tennessee Temple Academy students are decorating recycling containers and taking them to neighborhoods. Students also are creating door hangers to inform residents about recycling."We believe that recycling should be taught from an early age, as should taking pride in one’s community," Mr. Eldridge said. "With that in mind, we’re trying to do our part in helping our kids understand."