Paper drive success leads to permanent program

• Hudson Middle School students Steven Tripicchio, left, and McKenna Palm

Hudson Middle School students Steven Tripicchio, left, and McKenna Palm stand by the trailer full of paper collected during the community-wide paper drive in January. Submitted photo

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In the month of January, a community-wide paper drive was held by the Hudson School District’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (R3) Committee and the Middle School Radical Recyclers Club.

The district met its goal of filling the truck well before the end of January and collected nearly nine tons of paper. As a reward for meeting the goal all the schools in the district earned new trees to plant in school forests and grounds. The program also generated a payment of $125 from Rock-Tenn paper to the R3 committee which will be used to purchase a banner and signage for the paper drive.

Because of the success and support from the community the R3 committee would like to permanently locate a trailer in the north parking lot of the middle school (near Hudson Prairie Elementary).

“The combined efforts of our Hudson community and the enthusiastic support of Hudson Middle School staff and students resulted in launching quite a successful program,” said Ann Mitchell, R3 committee chair. “Based on our success, Rock-Tenn has agreed to partner with our school district and community to establish a permanent site for paper recycling.

“We encourage citizens and businesses to continue recycling paper through this direct link to a paper recycling plant. Funds raised will provide ongoing resources for R3 programs to help us reduce, reuse and recycle.”

Community members are asked to continue to help in this effort by collecting and delivering paper to the semi-trailer. All types of paper are accepted including newspapers, magazines, catalogs, business paper, junk mail, telephone books, egg cartons, cardboard and paper bags. For ease of loading and stacking, paper should be placed flat in paper grocery bags or bundled with twine. No plastic bags are accepted.

For more information, contact Mitchell at Houlton Elementary at (715) 377-3850.

Tags: local news, middle school, education, hudson