Alcoa, Tenn. – As the nation celebrates the 16th annual America Recycles Day, local companies and organizations are celebrating the continual success of recycling efforts at the 2013 Foothills Fall Festival. Alcoa Inc., DENSO, Keep Blount Beautiful and Spectra worked to make this year’s festival the “greenest” ever.

While the Foothills Fall Festival saw a 28 percent increase in attendance numbers from 2012 to 2013, the amount of land filled material decreased more than seven percent during the same time period.
 
“It was great to see that even as attendance numbers went up, the amount of trash going to the land fill went down this year,” said Jane Groff, City of Maryville Community Relations Manager.

The reduction in trash can be directly tied to the increase in recycling efforts at the three-day festival.

It all started in 2008 when DENSO’s Environmental Engineering Department spearheaded a recycling campaign at the Festival.  That year saw a 10 percent decrease in land filled materials. 

Bob Booker, senior manager in DENSO’s Corporate Services Division, said he is encouraged at the continuing decrease in the festival’s amount of land-filled trash. 

“Many of our associates also remain dedicated to the festival’s greener goals,” he added. “It is also encouraging to see how many hours they dedicate to working the festival and helping strengthen the recycling effort each year.”

In 2010, Alcoa Inc. employees joined the effort and manned educational booths within the theater area of the park, trying to raise awareness of recycling during the event.  A very special thank you goes to Foothills Fall Festival participants for their use of the available recycling receptacles. With their help, the festival increased its overall recycling rate by 140 percent compared to 2012.  In fact, this year 2475 pounds of materials including aluminum cans and cardboard were recycled compared to 1028 pounds last year.

“We saw a 64 percent increase in the number of aluminum cans recycled this year compared to 2012,” said Christy Newman, Public Relations and Communications Manager for Alcoa Tennessee Operations.  “Thanks to all who recognize that cans aren’t trash and are a valuable resource – used in our operations right here in Blount County.”  

As national sponsors of America Recycles Day on November 15, Alcoa and Alcoa Foundation are providing tools on its recycling website to make it easier for Americans to learn why it’s important to recycle and how to recycle. Those tools/resources include educational fact sheets, puzzles, presentations and more that are available for anyone to use. 

This material is available at www.alcoarecycling.com.