Iron Range Schools Praised For Recycling Efforts By Saint Louis County; Two Schools Recycled Nearly 17 Tons Of Materials Last School Year

Officials with Saint Louis County recently applauded the efforts of schools on Iron Range for their efforts in waste reduction;  students, teachers, and staff together worked to make it a banner year for recycling materials that would have otherwise gone to the landfill.  Two schools alone recycled nearly 17 tons of materials.

Both the Cherry and North Woods schools achieved considerable success. North Woods School in Cook wins top bragging rights, having recycled 8.49 tons or 16,980 pounds. Cherry School was close behind, ending the 2014-15 school year recycling 8.45 tons or 16,900 pounds of materials. Combined, that’s nearly 17 tons of recyclables that these schools would otherwise have had to pay to throw away. It’s also more than 33,800 pounds of valuable resources that are now being made into new products, saving energy and not taking up space in a landfill. Both schools had kicked off recycling programs during the 2013-14 school year and continued efforts this past year.

One focus this past year was recycling milk cartons.  Seven schools on the Iron Range now recycle their used milk cartons:  Four in the Hibbing district, the Northeast-Range School, Cherry, and North Woods have incorporated programs that keep these out of the garbage.  This focus followed the initiatives that Saint Louis County rolled out in 2013 as they started to accept paper milk, juice, soup, and gravy cartons for recycling.

At the same time, the Mountain Iron-Buhl school district encouraged their students to recycle during their annual end-of-the-year locking clean outs.  Students at MIB recycled 195 pounds of paper and 78 pounds of reusable school supplies from their lockers.