A Jefferson City school was recently awarded a first-place prize for its recycling efforts.
Clothing recycler USAgain announced that Immaculate Conception School was awarded $200 for finishing first in the 11th annual Earth Month Challenge. Across Missouri, 75 schools participated in the challenge and together collected 26,624 pounds of textiles, which company officials said helped prevent 399,360 pounds of carbon emissions and save 63,897,600 gallons of water.
Earth Month Challenge is USAgain's annual textile recycling competition that encourages students to collect clothes and shoes for re-wear, reuse and recycling. The month-long contest started March 15. The winners were selected based on the total pounds of textiles collected in the USAgain bin placed on the school premises. All participating schools earned funds based on the pounds collected.
During the competition, Immaculate Conception School collected 2,127 pounds, securing the first position and was closely followed by Highland Elementary School in St. Louis and Windsor Intermediate School in achieving second and third positions, respectively.
USAgain CEO Mattias Wallander noted 11 million tons of unwanted clothing in the U.S. is thrown into the trash and buried in landfills each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Nevertheless, the 15 percent of apparel that does get a second life is equivalent to taking 1 million cars off the road for a year.