Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools celebrated the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on Thursday, April 22, with a variety of activities held across the district. One of the activities included unveiling the district’s new recycling logo at Hawthorne High School.
CMS students were invited to create a new recycling logo and slogan for the district’s recycling program. The district received 52 entries and eight judges from area businesses, the county and district helped select the winning artwork. The winning slogan was created by Harding University High School student Simone McDuffie and the logo was created by Hawthorne High School student Kyleigh Varvel. The new artwork will be used on all promotional material starting next school year, including on the recycling carts and bins. The winning logo and runner-up entries are attached.
“It is so exciting to be part of the winning artwork,” Kyleigh said. “I used an apple because I always liked drawing them when I was a kid.”
CMS and Mecklenburg County’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department created the art contest to promote the county’s conversion to single-stream recycling where households, businesses and schools will be able to mix paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum cans and glass into one recycling cart beginning on July 1.
“Recycling is very important even in school and everybody should do it,” said Simone, who created the winning slogan ‘Be Cool! Recycle In School.’
Republic Waste Services sponsored the contest and awarded $1,000 to both schools during the Earth Day ceremony.
Jaylan Mobley, an eighth-grade student from John Taylor Williams Middle School, was named first-runner up, and an entry from Cornelius Elementary was named second runner-up. The Cornelius entry was created by the following students: Teddy Coyer, Lauren Hooks, Kristian Madsen, Christopher Pennella, Roman Uglehus and Maggie Wagner. All schools received a certificated framed in recycled bicycle tires and goodie bags that included notebooks, Frisbee, key chains that were made out of recycled material.
Jennifer Roberts, chair of the Board of County Commissioners, spoke about the single-stream conversion at the ceremony and presented the awards during the ceremony.
“The single-stream conversion is going to save us a lot of money because we will only have to pick up recycling every other week,” she said. “The new recycling carts will be bigger so more items can be recycled leading to an increase in participation. This will prevent more items from going to our landfills.”
