Fourth graders at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School have been leading the way in caring for God’s creation – one recycling bin at a time! Earlier this school year, PaperGator Recycling announced its first recycling contest in honor of Earth Day, and our fourth grade students jumped into action by leading and encouraging the rest of our student body to increase their recycling efforts. Each week, they stopped at each classroom, collected their recycling bins and took them out to our PaperGator bin. Our parish also increased awareness about the PaperGator bin and encouraged the community to use it.
After four months of steady recycling from January to April, we were very excited to learn that St. Anthony earned second place in the PaperGator contest. Our students were recognized in a special presentation and awarded a check for $2,000 – a very proud moment for all of them.
A few fun facts:
- 178 schools and organizations participated in the contest.
- St. Anthony recycled 3,314 lbs of paper from January–April 2024.
- During the same months in 2025, we collected 11,610 lbs of paper – a 250% increase!
- As a result, St. Anthony will now earn double for every pound of paper collected through the end of 2025—$0.02 per pound instead of $0.01.
All the paper collected in the PaperGator bin is recycled here in West Michigan at a facility in Byron Center. It’s transformed into pet products like Fresh News Cat Litter, lawn care items, and more.
Thank you to our amazing fourth graders for setting such a great example, and to everyone in our parish and school who made this effort a success. Let’s keep the momentum going! Our PaperGator is accessible every day, except during student recess (approx. 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.). Click here to view a list of accepted materials for the PaperGator.