Wal-Mart Kids Recycling Challenge Makes A Difference

Well this Wal-Mart bag may be twisting eerily in the early evening wind, but it could be snatched up soon by a kid saving plastic bags as part of the Wal-Mart Kids Recycling Challenge. Initially launched in 2004, they’ve encouraged kids across a wide swath of the country to pick up bags and turn them into cash via the recycling contest. Of course, it’s not a bad way to ensure the Wal-Mart brand name spends less time looking like roadside trash either…

But every bit helps, and to date students at nearly 2,800 schools have participated, recycling more than 1,400 tons of plastic bags, and earning more than $1.2 million from Wal-Mart in the process. That’s quite an achievement, and the fact that the collected bags wind up as park benches, decking, and lawn edging means they’ll be put to good use in their next life as well.

Now this year’s challenge is set to kick off October 1st, with schools competing to collect the most bags possible, and earning $5 for every 60 gallon collection bag of them they can find by March 31st of 2008. The bad news is that the registration for this year is already over, but if you head over to their site you can certainly put yourself on the mailing list to ensure you’ll get a crack at next year’s challenge.