Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) has celebrated “America Recycles Day” for the past seven years with the Irving Family YMCA, where the senior group members collect and bring in recyclable materials and challenge each other to be the top recycler. KIB supplied the city’s blue bags and flyers about what should and should not go in them, and the seniors got to work on the collection in late October. KIB staff weighed and recorded all the bags that were brought in, and after the final bag was weighed, the grand total was 1,404 pounds, a new record for the group. The Solid Waste Services Department was an additional partner who helped transport the seniors’ collection to a facility be processed for recycling.
America Recycles Day is a Keep America Beautiful (KAB) program dedicated to promoting and celebrating recycling in the United States. Thousands of events took place all across the country during November with a focus on increasing recycling in communities. More than 65,000 people took the recycling pledge to reduce waste, recycle more, and encourage others to recycle.
On Friday, November 20, KIB hosted a celebratory breakfast for the seniors, and had approximately 30 in attendance. They presented a trophy which read “In special recognition of the Irving Family YMCA Seniors for collecting 1,404 pounds of recyclables. America Recycles Day 2015.” They also had giveaway items like flower seed packets and pens, and also had a prize drawing for a gift card and a Christmas ornament.
“As the local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, we enjoy bringing the national programs here to Irving,” said KIB Board Vice President Margie Stipes. “The seniors group really enjoys participating, and this year they were very determined to break their previous record. They went above and beyond that, and we are very happy to honor them today.”
Keep Irving Beautiful is a non-profit, grassroots, leadership organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification in order to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, KIB reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, educational, neighborhood and civic organizations. If you are interested in volunteering with KIB, or making your activity a “green event,” please go to www.keepirvingbeautiful.org, or call the KIB office at 972-721-2175.