Keep Golden Isles Beautiful aimed again this year to reduce waste in the community. The 2019 School Recycling Challenge played an important role in that mission.

This fall, 14 local schools took part in the challenge to collect non-traditional items for recycling. By collecting items not accepted in local curbside recycling programs, participating schools had an immediate and profound impact on reducing landfill waste. In two weeks, students collected 192 pounds of oral care products, pens/markers/highlighters and cereal bags. All of that has been diverted from the landfill and will now be recycled via TerraCycle.

At an awards ceremony held at Hello GoodBuy in November, first, second and third place schools in each of the challenge categories received an upcycled award and bookmarks for their entire student body, as well as their choice of a school recycling bin or coastal themed books.

The challenge was supported by a Hello GoodBuy community grant.

“The challenge was a tremendous success, and we greatly appreciate the effort of all participating schools,” said KGIB executive director Lea King-Badyna. “The collected poundage is even more impressive when we consider the individual size and weight of the collected materials, meaning a huge amount of little items comprised the final poundage.”

Participating schools included Brunswick High, Burroughs-Molette Elementary, College of Coastal Georgia, First Baptist Preschool, Frederica Academy, Glyndale Elementary, Glynn Middle, Golden Isles Elementary, Morningstar Academy and Glynn Learning Center, Oglethorpe Pointe Elementary, St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, St. Simons Elementary, Satilla Marsh Elementary and Sterling Elementary.

Spotlight on Schools appears Thursdays. Contact Lauren McDonald at lmcdonald@thebrunswicknews.com or at 912-265-8320, ext. 322 to suggest a topic for a column.