January 6, 2006 

Artesia News

City Wins Nationwide Recycling Competition


Artesia won $5000 in a national competition to recycle the most aluminum cans. The news was announced in Washington, D.C. on November 15, America Recycles Day. Consolidated Disposal, the city’s trash service company, has agreed to match the winnings, bringing in a total of $10,000 for the city’s recycling program.

The competition, “Cans for Cash: City Recycling Challenge” was devised by the United States Conference of Mayors and Novelis, Inc. to promote recycling aluminum cans. Artesia competed in Division Four, comprising of cities with a population below 50,000 (Artesia has a population of approximately 16,380 according to the 2000 Census).

The city’s recycling coordinator, Andrew Perry, was in charge of organizing the event. “I was surprised we won. We’re just a small, humble town on the outskirts of Los Angeles County,” admitted Perry. “Never the less, we used all the resources available to us, and to good effect, I might add.”

The city might be humble, but Perry was not. “It was a crushing victory for Artesia. I believe we had something like 40,000 more pounds of aluminum recycled than the number two participant.”

Altogether, the Cans for Cash competition led more than 40 cities in the first two weeks of September to recycle more than three million pounds of aluminum, or approximately 107 million aluminum cans.

“We are pleased with the results of this year’s campaign and want to thank communities for their enthusiasm and tremendous effort in encouraging their residents to recycle aluminum cans,” said Kevin Greenawalt, President of Novelis North America. “Recycling is a fundamental element of Novelis’ corporate sustainability commitment, and we are dedicated to fostering efforts to promote the value of recycling aluminum through programs like Cans for Cash in order to encourage and help cities sustain their local efforts.”

There were two competitions. Besides recycling the most cans, the other competition was for ‘Most Innovative Idea’. In Division Four, the city of Monticello, IN, won that competition.

“We’re going for ‘Most Innovative Ideas’ next year,” said Perry.

 

 

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