Thu December 5, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2013 (CHICAGO, IL) - USAgain the textile recycling company, is proud to announce the winners of its 2013 nationwide America Recycles Day Challenge. In first and second place, respectively, are Amador Valley High School (Pleasanton, CA) and Twenty-First Street Elementary School (Milwaukee, WI). Tied for third place are Aurora Quest (Aurora, CO) and Pui Tak Christian School (Chicago, IL), followed by St. Clare School (O’Fallon, IL) in fourth place, and Brentwood Academy (East Palo Alto, CA) in fifth place.
America Recycles Day Challenge is USAgain’s annual textile recycling competition for schools across the U.S. Participating schools collected textiles throughout November and the top five recycling schools will be awarded cash prizes of $1,000, $750, $500, $250 and $100. All participating schools raised money based on pounds collected and will receive Certificate of Sustainability for their commitment to recycling and environmental stewardship.
“America Recycles Day is a cause we strongly support,” said Mattias Wallander, CEO of USAgain. “Reusing and recycling resources is one of the easiest way to reduce carbon impact, and it’s shown to be beneficial. A recent EPA study shows the yearly impact of textile recycling is the same as taking a million cars off the road. The impact will be much bigger if we are able to recycle the 12 million tons of textiles currently going into landfills.”
USAgain commends all participating schools for collecting a total of 198,545 pounds of clothing, shoes and other household textiles to be reused and recycled. This significant amount diverted from landfills represents over 1.3 million pounds of CO2 prevented from entering the atmosphere.
America Recycles Day Challenge presented schools with a no-cost, no-work fundraising option to earn cash and teach students the environmental, economic and social benefits of recycling clothes and shoes. This year’s contest was the seventh annual and over 600 schools participated in total. Participating schools can check their collections and ranking here.
About USAgain
USAgain – a leader in the textile recycling industry – is a for-profit company with a mission of diverting textiles from landfills. USAgain’s green and white recycling bins provide communities with a convenient way to recycle surplus clothing and shoes. In 2012, USAgain collected 58 million pounds of textiles for reuse and recycling. USAgain operates over 12,000 recycling bins in 18 states and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. For more information, visit www.usagain.com