Mayor Bill Haslam announced today that the City of Knoxville earned a first place national award in the National City Recycling Challenge for collecting 182,672 pounds of aluminum cans to be recycled.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and Novelis Inc, sponsors of the challenge, awarded the City of Knoxville with $5,000 to use for future recycling efforts.

"Knoxville residents are enthusiastic about keeping Knoxville the beautiful city that it is," said Mayor Bill Haslam. "Maintaining a city's beauty requires a continued community effort. Earning this award for the second consecutive year proves that Knoxville citizens have that kind of commitment."

Local private and public recycling facilities in Knoxville worked in collaboration for the Cans for Cash Challenge, which took place Sept. 1-15.

More than 100 million aluminum cans were collected nationwide this year, which made for a 73 percent increase for the campaign.

Last year, the City of Knoxville used its $5,000 award to boost other recycling programs such as the U.S. flag disposal program and the computer and phonebook recycling programs. Money was also used for its Earth Day celebration, which is dedicated to increasing environmental awareness.