Blue Bin-Instant Win contest ends, Recycling continues

(July 18, 2008) - Philbert Jenkins set out his recycling bin on his regular trash collection day for two reasons.  He wanted to do the right thing for the environment and win $100 from Waste Management, the City’s contracted recycling collection vendor.

Jenkins did both.  The recyclables in his Little Blue bin were taken to Recycle America instead of the landfill and the enrollment card he mailed in to play Blue Bin-Instant Win was drawn from thousands of cards.  On Thursday, July 10, Jenkins was declared the final winner of the 12-week contest.

The contest began April 21 and each week since one resident’s enrollment card was drawn for a chance to win $100.  By the end of the contest, 10 Oklahoma City residents received cash awards for properly setting out their Little Blue recycling bins.  Other winners are Phillip Albert, Greg McMahan, Carrol Napoleon, Norman Henson, Chris and Sandy Doherty, Dwight Bergren, Susan Long, Katherine Herrera, Joan Cowo, Phyllis Beres and Guy Townley.

Two of the 10 winners doubled their winnings because the person whose card was drawn the week before did not properly set out a Little Blue that week.  According to contest rules, the $100 prize money rolled to the next week if no recycling bin was set out or not properly filled.

Below are facts about recycling in Oklahoma City:

• Only about 3% of the trash collected in Oklahoma City is sent to the recycling center.
• Only about 22% of the households eligible for Curbside Recycling Program participate.
• The four landfills in Oklahoma City may be filled to capacity and closed in the next 10 to 20 years if we don’t increase our recycling rate.

Recycling helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, prevents global climate change, saves natural resources and energy and keeps non-decomposing trash out of the landfills.

Continue to use the Little Blue Bins and practice the three R’s – reduce, reuse, recycle.

Reduce:  Do you take a dozen paper napkins and use only two?  Do you throw away items that could be donated to nonprofit organizations?

Reuse:  Do you use paper or Styrofoam beverage cups instead of reusable, washable glass or plastic?

Recycle:  Glass can be recycled over and over again, forever.  Plastic water bottles take hundreds of years to decompose, not to mention the energy and fuel used to produce and transport them to the marketplaces.

For more information about recycling, log on to www.okc.gov