POLSON — The City of Polson now recycles cardboard, newspaper, magazines, catalogs, white office paper, aluminum cans and No. 1 and 2 plastics. City employees, Polson schools and now public bins at the city’s parks offer several outlets for disposing of recyclable materials.

The program was developed from a $23,000 Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) grant that seeks to increase the amount of recycling statewide by 20 percent. Polson’s Parks Superintendent Karen Sargeant applied for the grant last October and it was awarded to the city in April. By June, she had purchased the large bins for both the city offices and the schools.

“The city has been recycling since April,” Sargeant said. “So far, we’ve recycled three tons, just the city employees.”

The schools jumped on board with the new recycling program in September and have already recycled about 1.5 tons the first month. Since it costs $37 per ton to take garbage to the transfer station in Missoula, the push to recycle could save the city money in the long run, Sargeant said. Last year, Polson Middle School alone recycled 3,900 pounds of white paper, last year’s recycling coordinator Deanna McElwee said.

“We just recycled plastic bottles and white paper, but cardboard is huge at a school,” she said. “We have tons of things that come in cardboard boxes.”

Sargeant provided each classroom and office in the schools with sorting boxes, just cardboard fruit boxes donated from a local grocery store. Teachers and students labeled and decorated the boxes with each recycling commodity.

“It’s simple and free,” she said. “It didn’t cost us a thing except to go out and get them.”

Then, schools customized their recycling programs to best fit their students.

“Teachers are creative,” Sargeant said. “There is no worry on my part, it will fly, and that’s fun to see.”

At Cherry Valley, even the youngest students are introduced to the values of recycling. First graders Ashlynn DePoe, Brendan Dickson and Reeve Smith volunteered to help coordinator Doug Crosby wheel the big plastic bins to the building’s several collection locations Monday. Once or twice a week, Cherry Valley students help to sort and collect the materials for recycling. Good habits are learned early, Sargeant said, and Cherry Valley’s kids already know the ins and outs.

“Some things are made out of trees,” Smith said. “When you’re done with something you should recycle it, don’t throw it out the window of the car.”

“Don’t throw gum out the window because all the animals can eat it,” DePoe added. “Just throw it in a wrapper and throw it away when you get home.”

Twice a month, Polson Parks Department employees collect the large plastic bins from the schools and across the city’s parks. It takes almost four hours for them to collect and weigh all the transported recycled goods at the transfer station on Reservoir Road, but in a few years, the schools should be able to take over that responsibility themselves.

According to Sargeant, recycling is a commodity-based product. If there’s a market for products made out of recycled materials, then it is cost productive to recycle that specific material. For example, it became financially ineffective to recycle glass, except near larger cities with a bigger market.

“Apparently, there’s no market here for colored paper,” she said. “But, I am extremely thrilled to be able to recycle as many commodities as we have.”