Tampa Tribune: Sebring High School Is Going Green
Filed under: Earth 911 - April 5, 2008
By Mandy Sheets
The classrooms at Sebring High School will have a new addition when students return from spring break—a blue bin for recycling paper.
“Think about all the worksheets that are done at schools or the notes students take,” said Christy Reed, recycling program manager for Highlands County. “All of it had to be disposed of as garbage, but now they are going to be able to recycle it.”
The recycling program began accepting office paper in December and carts away three semi-trucks full, about 10 tons, every week.
Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, according to Earth 911.
Reed said last year the recycling program exceeded $267,000 in revenue from the sale of recycled material, and her goal this year is to have more than $300,000.
“This year we have more opportunity for revenue because we are collecting for office paper, which was previously considered junk,” Reed said.
Reed said she is trying to expand the program to more businesses, and the county will provide the supplies to any business that wants to start recycling.
Blue containers are placed next to each employee’s desk and, when those fill up, employees dump them into a hamper with two removable sacks that can be taken to the recycling bins located throughout the county.
Sebring High School will be the first in Highlands County to incorporate the paper recycling program, but Reed said she hopes to spread to more schools before the end of the school year.
Sebring’s city offices recently started recycling paper at City Hall, the police station and public works office.
“We generate a lot of paper here, and recycling it is the right thing to do,” said Scott Noethlich, assistant city administrator. “Not only is it good for the environment, the county gets money for all the paper it recycles, and the city’s tipping fee is lower when we go to the landfill.”
Diane Kauffman, human resources officer for Sebring, dumped a lot of papers into her blue container Friday afternoon at Sebring City Hall while cleaning off her desk.
“I have a lot of paper, so I like being able to recycle it,” Kauffman said. “It’s just a manner of getting used to recycling instead of throwing it away.”
The county has also changed its plastic recycling policy and will now only accept plastic bottles. Types 1-7 of plastic bottles are accepted; types are noted on the bottom of bottles. Plastic bags can be recycled at local grocery stores.
Reed said the change was made because of storage issues. For example, to recycle egg cartons, the county must have an entire semi-truck full of them, and Reed said the program does not have the space to collect that volume of material.
Bob Shearwood said he recycles everything he can and regularly visits containers located throughout the county.
“I just can’t stand throwing things away,” Shearwood said. “I just wish I had a place to recycle glass.”
Reed said glass recycling will be added when the county builds its asphalt plant.
Recycling supplies, including containers and hampers, are available from the county by calling
655-6477.