“Recycling is very important to Little River County,” County Judge Clayton Castleman said. “By recycling, we not only reuse our natural materials but save space in the landfill, thereby saving the county money. The schools and Domtar partnering together is a good example of a recycling effort that works for the benefit of the school, Domtar and the community. The county encourages everyone to take advantage of this paper recycling project and drop their recyclable paper by one of the bins at the schools.”

The program has been able to grow through a partnership between Domtar and Tri-State Iron and Metal Company that provided the means for participating schools to take part in the paper-recycling program. Each participating school has a 30-yard bin for their campus with Domtar inverting approximately $5,000 per school to provide the bin. Tri-State services each bin on a regular basis, the contents are weighed and the information calculated in order to provide monthly reports to Domtar. The tonnage is tracked by the Ashdown Mill Purchasing Department over the course of the collection period to arrive at each school’s annual payout.

The amount paid to the schools depends on the tons collected for a May to April time period. The goal is to provide a consistent payout to schools each year, and to avoid schools being negatively impacted when the price of waste paper fluctuates. Payouts are broken down into four tiers. The first tier is $500 for 25 tons. The second tier is $1,000 for 50 tons. The third tier is $1,500 for 75 tons and the final tier is $2,000 for 100 or more tons. A check presentation will be held in May to present each school’s portion of the proceeds from the program. In addition, schools are encouraged to invest the money in science, math, technology or environmental programs at their school.

Schools are chosen based on a number of criteria.

– Only public schools are eligible to participate in the program

– Proximity to the Ashdown mill

– Ability of Tri-State to service the school

– Size of the school and potential volume of collections

– Fiber needs of Tri-State

– Budget consideration

– Each bin must collect a minimum of 10 tons per year to be eligible for long-term program participation.

The paper-recycling program is an excellent example of a true “win-win” partnership between business, education, and the community. The recycling program is first and foremost an educational program with the intent to provide student and teachers an opportunity to learn more about the environment and how each person cam make a positive impact.

Through March of 2013, Margaret Daniel Primary and C.D. Franks Elementary have collected 28.83 tons for the 2012-13 school year. L.F. Henderson Intermediate has collected 19.41 tons. Ashdown Junior High has collected 22.25 tons and Ashdown High School, who just received its bin, has collected 7.57 tons.

Citizens are encouraged to drop of all unwanted paper, cardboard, magazines, etc., at their local campus in the big blue Domtar bins to be recycled.

In addition, AJHS recycles inkjet printer cartridges. Cartridges can be placed in a box and taken to the office at the school or dropped off by the door on weekends.