November 17, 2003

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Waste Management recently recognized the cities of Clifton (NJ), Boston, Fargo, Louisville, El Paso and Jackson County (MO) for their outstanding participation in Clean Your Files Day (CYFD), the Conference's official recycling event.

More than 260 cities, counties, nonprofits, government agencies, and other organizations signed up for this year's CYFD, a national event that promotes paper recycling by encouraging offices to purge old documents and files by sending them to the recyclers, instead of to the landfill. The 2003 participants amassed more than 886 tons (1.8 million pounds) of recyclable materials, saving 7 million gallons of water, more than 4 million kWh of energy, and 26,000 cubic feet of landfill space, according to statistics published by National Polymers, Inc.

The Conference of Mayors created and now coordinates the nine-year-old event with sponsors Waste Management, The Recycle America Alliance and Weyerhaeuser. To assist its participants, the Conference runs training workshops, distributes how-tos for combining day- or week-long recycling celebrations with file and office cleanups, and each year recognizes those outstanding local events that "go the extra mile" to promote paper recycling.

Clifton (NJ), recently awarded the honor of "Tree City USA" hauled in 250 tons of materials, the greatest tonnage reported by any organization, during their Clean Your Files Day.

El Paso topped the Clean Your Files Day charts for both numbers of participants and number of partner organizations, involving between 10,000 and 15,000 people in three school districts, several businesses, and all city, county, and state offices.

The Department of Environmental Protection in the city of Boston came in a strong second place with the recycling of 168 tons of paper, while making an along awaited move to new facilities across town.

Other CYFD event winners included Fargo who came in 3rd with 114 tons. Louisville wasn't far behind with 103 tons, and let's not forget our greatest participant winner, El Paso, with 51 tons. Rounding out the top 6 winners for greatest tonnage was Jackson County (MO) and Bridging the Gap, who have been strong contributors and recyclers for years and hauled in 36 tons of paper.

Recycling in schools was a very important issue this year and the CYFD program also recognized J.E. Langwith Elementary School and Crandall High School for their contribution to the environment.

Honorable mentions were also bestowed upon The University of Texas at Arlington, the cities of South Bend (IN), San Diego, Kettering (OH), Recycling Services Inc., the Muncie Sanitary District, the Fairfax County Recycling program and Plano (TX).

Congratulations going out to all who participated and won accommodations during the Clean Your Files Day 2003 season.