Tue December 8, 2015
St. Louis, MO – Clothing recycler USAgain today announced the winners of the 2015 America Recycles Day Challenge for Missouri schools, including Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City (1st Place), Plattin Primary School in Festus (2nd Place) and Bayless Elementary School in St. Louis (3rd Place).
America Recycles Day Challenge is USAgain’s annual clothing recycling competition for schools that encourages students to collect clothing for recycling and re-use. USAgain places and services collection bins at each participating school, which all receive revenue based on total pounds collected.
The competition started on October 15 and culminated with America Recycles Day on November 15.
“This friendly challenge encourages students to learn more about recycling and its impacts on the planet," said USAgain CEO Mattias Wallander.” “It’s a great way for schools to engage with students and their communities about the importance of keeping textiles out of landfills, while raising money and reducing carbon footprints at the same time."
Wallander noted that 85 percent of all unwanted clothing in the U.S., or more than 12 million tons, is thrown into the trash and buried in landfills each year with the average individual discarding some 70 pounds of textiles annually, according to the U.S. EPA. Nevertheless, the 15 percent of clothing that does get a second life is the equivalent to taking one million automobiles of the road for a year.
USAgain commends all 38 schools in Missouri that participated in the recycling challenge this year. Together, 14,300 pounds of clothes were collected, which helped prevent 214,500 pounds of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere. The three top collectors will receive additional cash prizes of $250, $100 and $50, respectively.
About USAgain
USAgain, a leader in the textile recycling industry since 1999, is a for-profit company that recycles and reuses clothing, shoes and other textiles. Its mission is to provide consumers with a convenient and eco-friendly option to rid themselves of excess clothing, which is diverted from landfills.In 2014, USAgain collected 54 million pounds of textiles for reuse and recycling. USAgain maintains more than 10,000 collection bins in 16 states and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. For more information, visit www.usagain.com to learn more and locate a recycling container near you.