Michelle Finchum, a student at Ritta Elementary School, and Aaron Brown, a student at Chilhowee Intermediate School, are the winners of the recent Knox County Schools' Phone Book Recycling Poster Contest.

The contest is part of the annual effort by the schools that collected more than 143 tons of telephone books last year for recycling.

Michelle and Aaron each received a proclamation about their achievement and a $50 award from Mayor Bill Haslam on Tuesday, Dec. 12, for winning the contest.

The two prizewinners received their awards during a ceremony at the new Goodwill-Park Village Drive Recycling Center in West Knoxville to kickoff the phone book recycling effort.
Michelle's teacher, Bobby Mooring, and Aaron's teacher, Jessie Gwyn, also received $125 awards for use in their respective classrooms.
Chilhowee Intermediate SchoolTeacher Jessie Gwyn, Ritta Elementary SchoolStudent Michelle Finchum, Mayor Bill Haslam, Chilhowee Intermediate SchoolStudent Aaron Brown, Ritta Elementary SchoolTeacher Bobby Mooring
The contest was aimed at promoting awareness among students of the importance of recycling.
Recycling the 143 tons of phone books collected last year for example translates into a savings of 240 cubic yards of landfill space and saved the equivalent of 2,448 trees from having to be cut for paper products.

Many Knox County Schools are also currently involved in a contest to collect the most telephone books for recycling.

Cash prizes totaling $1,900 will be awarded to the various winners of that contest after its conclusion on Jan. 27, 2007.

The Solid Waste Offices of the City of Knoxville and Knox County are providing the prizes.
Individuals may drop off old phone books at the schools, though they should check with the school first to see if it is participating in the effort.

Businesses and individuals can also make arrangements to drop off large numbers of books, on behalf of particular schools of their choice, at Knox Recycled Fiber at 1323 Proctor Street.
They need to inform the schools of the number of books they drop off so those schools can credit that number to their total.

Phone books may also be dropped off at any of the city's recycling centers.

Mayor Haslam, city and county officials and Liz Lukacs, vice president for marketing for Goodwill Industries-Knoxville also dedicated the new Goodwill Park Village Recycling Center during the ceremony.

The new center at 341 Park Village Drive is expected to collect about 1,250 tons of materials annually that can be recycled.