Date:

May 30, 2007

For More Information Contact:

Diane Gonzolas, Citizen Information Center, 441-7831

Gene Hanlon, Recycling Coordinator, 441-7043

Mayor Chris Beutler will present awards to the top participants in “Clean Your Files Week” at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 31 in the Mayor’s Conference Room. The week of April 23 through 27, 31 participants recycled more than 53,000 pounds of paper. That represents an environmental savings of 450 trees, 80 cubic yards of landfill space and more than 180,000 gallons of water.

“In the eight years that Lincoln has sponsored Clean Your Files Week, participating businesses and institutions have recycled close to 328,000 pounds of paper,” said Mayor Beutler. “This program has become a great tradition in our community. By promoting the recycling of office paper, we help the environment and save taxpayer dollars by extending the life of the landfill.”

For the fourth year in a row, Ameritas Life Insurance Corporation collected the largest amount of any organization participating in the event by recycling 24,508 pounds of paper.

Awards also will be presented to:

• Elliott Elementary in the schools category. Students there collected 1,000 pounds of paper or about three pounds of paper per student.
• The League Association of Risk Managers in the private business category. The group collected 715 pounds of paper or 102 pounds of paper per employee.
• The Mayor’s Office in the local government category. Former Mayor Coleen Seng and her staff collected 1,937 pounds of paper or 129 pounds of paper per employee.

Clean Your Files Week is organized by Recycling at Work, a campaign of the National Office Paper Recycling Project, a public-private partnership managed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, with the help of Clean Your Files Week national sponsors. Local sponsors include the City of Lincoln, Midland Recycling, the Lincoln Public Schools, the University of Nebraska and WasteCap of Nebraska.