School CANpaign Winners Announced

Participation More Than Doubles for CANpaign 2007

The City of Tallahassee Utilities teamed up with Leon County Schools, a host of local business partners, and volunteers that came out to help from FAMU, FSU, Greenovation, Leon High and Lincoln High to participate in the recent CANpaign 2007 Recycling Challenge. This year’s CANpaign brought in over 4,300 pounds of aluminum cans.

Thirty-four area schools and college organizations participated in this year’s CANpaign, up from 15 in 2006. While the competition was tight, the following schools came out on top in their respective categories.

Elementary School: Chaires, with a CANtribution total of 410.1 pounds

Middle School: Raa, 54.2 pounds

High School: Chiles, 228.2 pounds

Private School: Magnolia, 157.6 pounds

College Organization: FAMU ESSO, 53.4 pounds

Deerlake Middle School was the lucky winner of the drawing for a $250 gift card to The Home Depot to be used for recycling or landscaping supplies. All participating schools and organizations were automatically entered into the drawing.

“The community was the real winner of this challenge,” said Anja DeLoach, recycling and special services coordinator for the City’s Solid Waste Services. “Tallahassee has increased its recycling exponentially this year with more frequent curbside recycling service, and this event really brought the effort home.”

CANpaign 2007 is part of the U.S. Council of Mayors nationwide recycling challenge, conducted in October and culminated locally in the CANpaign 2007 Rally on Saturday, Oct. 13 in the parking lot of The Home Depot, 3200 Capital Circle NE. In 2006, the City of Tallahassee won first place nationwide for “Most Innovative Recycling Campaign”.

“The success of this program is just one demonstration of how collaborative efforts can have a significant impact on our environment,” said Reginald Ofuani, general manager of Solid Waste Services. “We look forward to continued efforts to increase and enhance recycling in our community.”

The City of Tallahassee has a strong commitment to recycling throughout the community. In May of 2007, the city increased household recycling pickup from every other week to weekly collection. Since that time, residential recycling has increased by over 30 percent over the same period in 2006, and even without a service change, commercial recycling has almost doubled during that same time period as well due to growing awareness.

For more on CANpaign 2007 and other City recycling information, visit Talgov.com.

Jump Start Team Goes Separate Ways

After several months of working to establish a collective vision, the Jump Start Plan X team has decided to separate and pursue individual projects related to assisting small businesses. Some team members will develop new initiatives to make Tallahassee a more small-business- friendly city, while others will re-channel their energy and creativity into existing KCCI projects. Either way, each catalyst and volunteer will continue to play a significant role in helping achieve KCCI’s overall goal, which is to stimulate positive change that brings sustainable economic prosperity to our region.

While Jump Start Plan X will be removed from the list of KCCI initiatives, we will continue to keep you posted on any new developments related to small business efforts moving forward. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or e-mail kccitallahassee@gmail.com.