Get Caught Recycling! Contest Winners Announced at State Fair

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) announced the names of the

Get Caught Recycling! contest winners at a special event held at the state fair this afternoon.

The event concluded the Get Caught Recycling! contest that invited individuals, families, businesses, classrooms, civic organizations, and other groups to showcase their recycling efforts to the rest of the state. KDHE asked for creative communication efforts such as videos, photos, artwork, audios, Web sites, essays, and more to be entered into the statewide contest.

“I am so proud today of these individuals and groups that have made the commitment to improve their environment by recycling,” said KDHE Secretary Roderick L. Bremby. “We have some very creative thinkers in this state and we all benefit from their creativity and commitment to recycling. Winners ranged in age from 10-73 years. We are glad to see that recycling is important across the state and across the ages.”

Today’s event included remarks from KDHE Secretary Roderick L. Bremby, KDHE Director of Waste Management Bill Bider, and Kansas State Treasurer Lynn Jenkins, CPA, administrator of Learning Quest, the Kansas 529 Education Savings Plan. The 11 statewide contest winners were announced including the winner of the grand prize – a $2,500 Learning Quest account. The crowd was then entertained by magician, Richard Renner.

The following prizes were awarded:

• One, $2,500 grand prize Learning Quest College Savings Account was awarded to Stacy Wade, Silver Lake, for a scrapbook called Recipes for Recycling. Stacy and her family recycle everything they can. The money they earn is saved for college.

• $500 Learning Quest College Savings Accounts were awarded to:

• Jimmy Allen, Prairie Village, for creating a short animated video entitled “The Hand of Waste,” starring the contents of a refrigerator and their concerns about what happens to them as they are thrown away as “waste” or “reincarnated” as recycled goods.

• Jina Arellano, Garden City, created a Power Point presentation featuring school children and their teacher sorting trash.

• Bicycles for Youngsters, Norton, for working with the local corrections facility to retrofit bikes to donate to area children.

• Cans for the Community, Inc., Lawrence, a local community volunteer organization that donates recycling proceeds to non-profit groups.

• John Frank, Cheney, collects cans to generate money to replace the city’s swimming pool.

• Patsy Kerley, Peck, for an essay about her lifelong dedication to recycling.

• Renette Langdon, Sharon Springs, created a Power Point presentation about a three generation recycling tradition in her family.

• Krystal Martinez, Dodge City, created a silent home movie featuring an area family and two masked recyclers promoting recycling in Dodge City.

• Robert Mix, Great Bend, creates sculpture from scrap metal one of which is a replica of the famous “fish within a fish” fossil at the Sternberg Museum in Hays.

• Laura Sweeney, Salina, created a video of the benefits of recycling starring the Sweeney family.

For more information on KDHE programs and services, please visit www.kdheks.gov. For more information on recycling, please visit, www.GetCaughtRecycling.org.

For information about Learning Quest, the Kansas 529 Education Savings Plan, please visit www.KansasStateTreasurer.com.

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