Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Monday, November 30, 2009

All across Lexington, students collected loads of aluminum for the annual “Cans for Cash” City Recycling Challenge.

Twenty schools participated this fall – including 14 from Fayette County Public Schools – gathering a total of 4,923 pounds or 157,536 aluminum cans.

The schools that collected the most cans per capita (total weight of aluminum divided by number of students) receive cash prizes:

Category I (for schools with up to 299 students)

• 2^nd place: Lexington Day Treatment ($1,000)

Category II (for schools with 300-599 students)

• 1^st place: Ashland Elementary  ($1,250)
• 2^nd place: Cardinal Valley Elementary ($1,000)

Category III (for schools with 600 or more students)

• 1^st place: Picadome Elementary ($1,250)
• 2^nd place: Dixie Elementary ($1,000)
• 3^rd place: Veterans Park Elementary ($750)

Winners will be recognized at 7 p.m. Dec. 3 during the Urban County Council meeting. The local prize sponsors are Baker Iron and Metal, Gordon Scrap Iron and Metal, Wise Recycling and LFUCG’s Division of Waste Management.

The nationwide contest, which ran Oct. 1-31, is designed to encourage communities and schools to be a part of the solution. Organizers emphasize that recycling conserves natural resources and energy. For example, recycling 40 cans saves the energy equivalent of one gallon of gasoline; which means the energy saved by recycling 10 million cans is equivalent to 250,000 gallons of gasoline.

The Cans for Cash competition is sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Novelis Corp. (a world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling) and Keep America Beautiful Inc. LFUCG’s Bluegrass Partnership for a Green Community is the organizer for Lexington, and Bluegrass PRIDE handled school registrations this year.

For more information, contact Maxine Rudder, education director at Bluegrass PRIDE, at (859) 266-1572 or e-mail maxine@bgpride.org.