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The Smithville R-II School District’s communitywide recycling program has become a model for other area school districts.

Earlier this year, the district’s four schools added comingle recycling bins that collect basically every recyclable aside from glass.

The bins sit in the school parking lots, next to the paper recycling bins.

District officials describe the comingle initiative as a win-win. It’s environmentally friendly, convenient for the community and schools and saves the district money. Diverting cardboard, aluminum, plastic, tin cans and phonebooks to recycling instead of trash has cut the district’s monthly trash bill by $400 — from $1,200 to $800.

Donna Utter with AbitibiBowater, the paper company that manages the district’s paper and comingle bins, said that Smithville was the first school district in the area to start the comingle program, called EcoRewards. She’s been using the district’s success to lure in other districts.

“I say, ‘Look at Smithville. They’re saving $400 a month, and they are small,’” said Utter, the company’s Kansas City area manager. “You can save $100 a building a month, and that’s just the beginning.”

Wayne Krueger, the Smithville district’s assistant superintendent for support services, was looking for a comingle program when he and Utter first made contact.

“Smithville was one of the first school districts to go districtwide with this, especially in Clay County,” Utter said.

Since that time, a few other area districts have signed on to the program, thanks to contact from either Utter or Krueger.

Utter said both the Platte County and Park Hill school districts plan to start the program by the time school begins. Some schools within the North Kansas City School District have the program, she said, and the Kearney School District has expressed interest.

Abitibi offers the service free of charge for school districts. The company sets its bins at the school sites and picks up the recyclables once a week. While the company doesn’t pay the districts for comingle items, it does pay schools $27 per ton for paper.

Before the comingle bins appeared at Smithville schools, residents used to travel into Kansas City to take recyclables, Krueger said. In addition, residents did and still do take advantage of the city of Smithville’s recycling collection the fourth weekend of every month where U.S. Highway 169 and 169 Spur meet.

Judging by the heaps of recyclables that fill the schools’ comingle bins, the community is taking advantage of the new service.

“Abitibi picks up the recycling every Wednesday morning, and by Tuesday the bins are always full,” Krueger said.

RECYCLING AT SCHOOLS

Here’s what you need to know before dropping off your recyclables in Smithville R-II School District recycling bins.

- Separate paper from comingle products. Comingle products basically include everything but glass — cardboard, aluminum, plastic, tin cans and phone books.

- Flatten boxes, remove lids, rinse all food out of containers.

- The yellow and green “Paper Retriever” bins are for paper only.

- The blue and green bins are for the comingle items.

- Both paper and comingle items can be thrown loose into the bins. If you wish to bag your items, use a clear plastic bag and tie off the bag.

- Recycling bins, which are accessible 24 hours a day, are in the parking lots of the four district schools: Smithville High School, 645 S. Commercial; Smithville Middle School, 675 S. Commercial; Smithville Upper Elementary School, 695 S. Commercial; Smithville Primary Elementary School, 600 Maple Ave.

- Dump recyclables in the bins. If bins are full, do not leave items on the ground outside of bins.

- Call AbitibiBowater at 913-722-9022 for more information.

- Aside from recycling at the school sites, the city of Smithville holds a recycling center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the fourth Saturday and Sunday of every month at U.S. Highway 169 and 169 Spur, collecting glass (brown, green and clear), paper, magazines, newspapers and plastic.

Smithville Editor Nancy Hull Rigdon can be reached at 532-4444 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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