Mackeben Students Learn and Apply Today's 3 R’s of Education

-Taken from a D158 press release

While older generations of students may be more familiar with the old version of the three R’s of education – Reading, Ritin’ and Rithmetic, students at Mackeben Elementary School have been working hard at learning and applying the 21st century version of the three R’s of education – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

In celebration of Earth Day 2011, students recycled a total of 2.4 tons of paper. 

“We encourage everyone in our community to bring their newspapers, magazines, catalogs, old mail, office and school papers to our green and yellow bin,” said Matt Webster, first grade teacher and Mackeben’s Recycling Coordinator.

AbitibiBowater’s Paper Retriever recycling program provides the collection service and rebate incentives to schools and other non-profit organizations based on the volume of paper collected. 

The recycling program teaches students that recycling paper reduces landfill use, saves water and energy, and encourages community members to be good stewards of the environment while also supporting the school. Proceeds from Mackeben’s recycling program will be used to purchase science and recycling materials for the students.

A true Full-Circle Recycler®, AbitibiBowater is North America's largest manufacturer of recycled content newsprint for use in making newspapers.  The company currently handles over 1 million metric tons of recyclable materials each year, of which nearly 75 percent is old newspapers.

Approximately 50 percent of the paper recovered is used in the production of newsprint and other paper products. The paper you recycle today may be the newspaper you read in just a few weeks…and again in two months... and again.

“We actually recycled 6.8 tons of paper in 2010, and we are off to a great start in 2011,” said Webster.

Community members are invited and encouraged to continue participating in the program by dropping off newspapers, old magazines, catalogs, junk mail, envelopes, office papers, and school papers at the green and yellow bin located on the East end of the school.

Mackeben Elementary School is located at 800 Academic Drive, Algonquin, Illinois, 60102.  For more information, please contact Mr. Matt Webster at (847) 659-3400.