CAMDEN — The Preble County Chamber of Commerce held a special Business After Hours event on Thursday, May 10, during which the Preble County Solid Waste District presented its Outstanding Recycling Program Award to Camden Elementary teacher Mark Roberts and his students.
Roberts helped the school garner the PCSWD Business Recycling Grant last year and he and his students worked to make Camden Elementary and the community a better place.
“Each year, our office gives a business or non-profit an award that is called the Outstanding Recycling Program Award and this award is given to an organization who has shown an interest in improving their existing recycling efforts and in furthering waste reduction at their site,” Assistant Director of PCSWD Beth Wright said.
“My office decided to honor Camden Elementary, a school that went to great lengths to improve their existing recycling program by applying for and receiving our Business Recycling Grant. The staff used our grant to buy recycling waste wheelers in order to easily and effectively collect the school’s recyclable items each week,” Wright added.
“The Preble County Solid Waste District is proud to announce that Camden Elementary was awarded a Business Recycling Grant in late 2017 in the amount of $500 to purchase two recycling carts and a recycling container for the teacher’s lounge. We were very excited that students and staff were learning about the benefits of of recycling at school,” Wright said during her presentation.
“Mark Roberts, second grade teacher at Camden Elementary, applied for this grant. He wanted to make recycling easier for his students during collection. Mr. Roberts is a believer in recycling and now his students see first hand how their recycling efforts will make the school better.
“As part of the ongoing recognition that Camden Elementary received this grant, not only did the school get new recycling equipment, but a classroom presentation about recycling and waste reduction strategies at school and home was given to the students by the Solid Waste District.”
The students also received promotional t-shirts, backpacks, and toys so they could remember the recycling lessons they were taught.
Once Mr. Roberts and his students were presented with awards, Roberts added, “We really appreciate the grant and the wheeled cans definitely made a huge difference. It is a lot easier — I’m just trying to keep them to walking and not racing the carts, but they do a good job, to the point where recycling has picked up quite a bit and I think we’re going to start taking two bins at a time.
“It has made a big difference, so thank you. We were dragging trash bags and trying to reuse them, but we were dragging them across the parking lot so they only lasted a couple weeks at most. Thank you very much, we appreciate it.”
This Business After Hours event was sponsored by Premier Health. After the award ceremony, all in attendance were welcomed to stay for pizza and cake.
