Recycle-Bowl Brings Competition to Recycling Efforts

Recycle-Bowl Turns School Recycling Into a Nationwide Competition

Recycling works better when people actually want to participate. In 2011, Keep America Beautiful found a creative way to bring that idea directly into schools.

The organization launched the first Recycle-Bowl, a nationwide recycling competition for elementary, middle and high school students. Instead of presenting recycling as another classroom obligation, the program turned waste reduction into a challenge students could measure, compete in and celebrate.

More importantly, it gave schools a practical way to teach environmental responsibility.

Recycling Becomes a School Competition

Recycle-Bowl opened participation to schools and classrooms across the United States. The four-week competition ran from October 17 through November 12, 2011, leading into America Recycles Day.

Participating schools collected recyclable materials and tracked how much they recovered. However, the competition measured results on a per-student basis. Therefore, smaller schools could compete more fairly with larger districts.

The school collecting the most recyclable material per capita in each state could win \$1,000. In addition, one national champion could earn another $2,500.

Nestlé Waters North America sponsored the inaugural competition. (PR Newswire)

Teaching Sustainability Through Action

The real value went beyond the prize money.

Students could see exactly how their daily choices affected the amount of waste leaving their schools. Teachers could also connect recycling to lessons involving science, math, natural resources and environmental responsibility.

Consequently, sustainability became something students could physically participate in rather than simply read about.

Schools also received recycling activities and educational materials designed to support the program. Therefore, Recycle-Bowl could help schools strengthen existing recycling efforts or even establish new ones.

That combination of education, competition and measurable results made the program especially effective.

The First Recycle-Bowl Produced Real Results

The inaugural competition ultimately reached more than 1,200 schools across 47 states and involved more than 500,000 students.

Together, participating schools recovered more than 2 million pounds of recyclable material during the competition. In addition, 67% of participating schools reported either a significant or noticeable increase in recycling. (PR Newswire)

Marshall Christian Academy in Albertville, Alabama, became the first national champion. Its students recycled approximately 41 pounds per student. The school also cut its landfill garbage pickups in half. (PR Newswire)

Those numbers demonstrate something important. Small behavioral changes can become significant when hundreds of thousands of students participate at the same time.

Recycling Habits Can Extend Beyond School

Programs such as Recycle-Bowl also have the potential to influence behavior outside the classroom.

Students learn how to separate recyclable materials correctly. Then they can bring those habits home. Families may begin paying more attention to what they throw away. Meanwhile, communities gain another generation that understands why waste reduction matters.

Later evaluations of the program found that participating schools recycled more than comparable non-participating schools. Some schools also used Recycle-Bowl as the motivation to create recycling programs for the first time. (Tools of Change)

That lasting behavioral change is arguably more important than winning a trophy or cash award.

Turning Environmental Responsibility Into Something Fun

Environmental education does not always need to begin with complicated climate data or massive policy discussions.

Sometimes it starts with a recycling bin.

Recycle-Bowl showed how schools could combine competition, education and environmental responsibility into one simple program. Students could immediately see the results of their actions. Meanwhile, schools could reduce waste and strengthen recycling programs.

More than a decade later, that lesson still matters.

If we want young people to embrace sustainability, we should give them opportunities to participate in it. Make the impact visible. Make the results measurable. Most importantly, make environmental responsibility part of everyday life.