Johnston Elementary School Wins Recycling Competition

WOODSTOCK-TOWNE LAKE, GA - From the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce: The Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Going Green & Education Committees co-sponsored a two-day Plastic Bag Recycling Competition in partnership with Waste Management between seven of Cherokee County’s Elementary Schools who collected a total of 40,968 plastic bags. Johnston ES collected an amazing 10,069 plastic bags during the two-day event. Congratulations to the students at Johnston. Hickory Flat ES should also be commended for an excellent job as they came in a close second with 9,915 plastic bags.

Through a grant from Waste Management, the Chamber was able to fund this elementary school recycling initiative. The grant monies were used to purchase a bench for the winning school made from recycled plastics. The bench, which will be proudly displayed on the Johnston ES playground, includes a plaque which recognizes the school as the winner of the 2017 ES Recycling Competition sponsored by Waste Management and the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce. Johnston ES Principal, Amy Graham proudly accepted the bench on behalf of the school and informed the Cherokee Chamber volunteers that the bench would be used as a “buddy bench”, where kids can sit to let others know they need a friend.

Through further partnership, the plastic bags collected were donated to MUST Ministries and Papa’s Pantry who will use them to support their ongoing projects. R & D Mechanical Services, Inc., as well as Papa’s Pantry, Inc., volunteered their time and cargo vehicles to collect plastic bags and deliver them to their respective final destinations.

The following is the order in which the participating schools ranked by plastic bag count: Johnston ES, Hickory Flat ES, Clark Creek ES, Free Home ES, Mountain Road ES, Woodstock ES, & Macedonia ES. These schools and students should be commended for their over-whelming response and commitment to the Chamber's green efforts.

The winning homeroom from each of the elementary schools was presented with gifts provided by Chamber member restaurants including Bojangles: Canton, Hickory Flat and Towne Lake; Cheeseburger Bobby’s Woodstock; the following Chick-fil-A locations: Canton Marketplace, Canton Riverstone Parkway, Woodstock Dwarf House and Towne Lake; Frosty Frog Creamery & Café, IHOP of Woodstock, Newks Eatery, and Taqueria Tsunami.

Congratulations to the teachers and homerooms for collecting the most plastic bags within your respective elementary schools: Ms. Partin’s third grade class from Johnston ES, Ms. Earl’s third grade class from Hickory Flat ES, Ms. Mendenhall’s first grade class from Clark Creek ES, Ms. Fowler’s kindergarten class from Free Home ES, Ms. Covington’s fifth grade class from Mountain Road ES, Ms. Adams’ kindergarten class from Woodstock ES, and Ms. Rich’s fourth grade class from Macedonia ES.

Honorable mention of awarded second place homerooms from our top two schools: Ms. Dill’s second grade class from Johnston ES, and Ms. Plousis’ third grade class from Hickory Flat ES. Honorable mention of awarded third place homeroom from Johnston ES, Ms. Turco’s first grade class.

The students, teachers, and parents of all seven schools worked very hard to make this a friendly, educational, and successful recycling competition! The Cherokee County Chamber would like to thank these individuals for their participation and the hard work they put forth to make this event a success.

The mission of the Chamber's Going Green initiative is to encourage the community to implement green practices that conserve community resources while helping businesses thrive. To learn more about the Chamber's initiative, or to download a recycling guide, please visit CherokeeChamber.com or contact the Chamber at 770-345-0400.

Photo courtesy of The Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce