GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., May 24, 2007 – Through its Kids Recycling Challenge program, Wal-Mart today announced it is awarding $50,930 to 224 Colorado schools for students’ efforts to become responsible stewards of their environment. The company’s Kids Recycling Challenge effort is the largest plastic bag recycling program of its kind ever undertaken.
From last September through March, elementary school students in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming were encouraged to bring plastic retail and grocery bags to their schools for recycling. For each 60-gallon collection bag filled with plastic bags and brought to a local Wal-Mart store, the school was awarded $5.00 from Wal-Mart.
Schools were grouped into geographic regions, and competed against other elementary schools in their region. The ten schools in each region that brought in the most collection bags received additional cash grants from Wal-Mart: $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place, $1,000 for third place, and $250 each for fourth through tenth places.
Additionally, the top school in each region will be rewarded with an entertaining and educational school-wide assembly performance, courtesy of Wal-Mart.
Colorado was designated as one region, with schools across the state competing against each other.
“As an active leader in the local communities that our stores serve, Wal-Mart is committed to improving the environment, increasing awareness about recycling, and helping our schools get much-needed funding,” said Brian Wood, Manager of Wal-Mart Store #5099 in Grand Junction. “It was a thrill to see the principals, teachers, and parent volunteers come into the store with their cartloads of bags, and we were all surprised to see just how quickly they added up. Many schools have asked us if they can continue bringing in bags even though the current program is over. They have become so accustomed to recycling that earning money for the bags has almost become secondary.”
Colorado region results
Collectively, 224 elementary schools in Colorado participated in the program, filling a total of 8,636 collection bags – weighing 138,176 pounds – and earning $50,930 in the process.
Wingate Elementary in Grand Junction topped all participating Colorado schools by filling 503 60-gallon collection bags (totaling 8,048 pounds). In addition to earning $5.00 per bag, and the $3,000 grand prize, the students of Wingate Elementary will also be rewarded with entertaining assemblies focusing on the environment, courtesy of Wal-Mart. The assemblies will take place today at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Prior to each assembly, a representative from Wal-Mart will present a check for $5,515 to the hard-working students.
“We are grateful to the entire Wal-Mart family for giving our learning community the opportunity to protect our environment and earn funding to increase our media capabilities,” said Holly Redman, Principal of Wingate Elementary. “Our success can only be attributed to the ease of process created by Wal-Mart, our conscientious and environmentally-aware students and staff, and the generosity of our volunteers. We appreciate Wal-Mart for doing their part to increase awareness of environmental issues and contributing to the educational growth of students.”
Rounding out the top ten schools, the big winners in the Colorado region include:
All told, nearly 2,800 schools in 12 states filled more than 131,000 60-gallon collection bags from September 2006 through March 2007, and earned more than $830,000 from Wal-Mart.
A history of success
The Kids Recycling Challenge debuted in February 2005 in Sacramento, Palm Springs, and Salt Lake City, and has since expanded to Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Since its inception, nearly 2,800 schools have enrolled in the program, representing more than one million students. Participating schools have recycled 1,400 tons of plastic bags and have collected nearly $1.2 million from Wal-Mart.
The next Kids Recycling Challenge will run from Fall 2007 through Spring 2008 in the same states. Interested schools are invited to visit www.kidsrecyclingchallenge.com to learn more and to enroll.
About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT)
Every week, millions of customers visit Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam’s Club locations across America or log on to its online store at
www.walmart.com. The company and its Foundation are committed to a philosophy of giving back locally. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is proud to support the causes that are important to customers and associates right in their own neighborhoods, and last year gave more than $270 million to local communities in the United States. To learn more, visit www.walmartfacts.com,
www.walmartstores.com, or
www.walmartfoundation.org.
EDITORS’ NOTES
• Assembly photos can be found at www.walmartfacts.com.
• Complete final results of the Kids Recycling Challenge and additional program information can be found at
www.kidsrecyclingchallenge.com/media.html.
• Wal-Mart information online: www.walmartfacts.com; merchandise sales:
www.walmart.com.