Saturday’s haul for the Trees to Paper to Trees program was down compared to prior years, but still pretty big: 14,180 pounds of newsprint, 1,440 pounds of cardboard and 255 pounds of aluminum.

At the end of the day, the spring collection at Flathead County Fairgrounds raised about $521 to help Kalispell buy new trees to plant around the city.

It also kept that much stuff out of the county landfill.

“[That money] goes into a fund each year and we buy our trees out of that, to plant in the public right of way, on the boulevards, in parks and at schools,” said Mike Baker, director of Kalispell Parks and Recreation.

The Trees to Paper to Trees program got its start back in spring 1996, the idea of Kalispell’s advisory Street Tree Commission.

The original idea was to keep newspapers out of the county landfill and recycle them to help raise money to buy and plant more trees in the city, commission spokeswoman Bette Albright said.

The program since has been expanded to include other recyclable materials such as cardboard and aluminum.

Flathead High School students volunteer along with advisory commission members to help staff the collection, unloading cars that pull in and putting the materials into Dumpsters provided and hauled off by Pacific Steel and Recycling.

“It’s a nice way of involving the kids,” Albright said, adding that students can get credit for a community service project.

Trees to Paper to Trees collections are held every spring and fall at the fairgrounds.

Going into the spring collection, the program had raised about $11,000 to buy and plant trees and recycled 723,437 pounds of materials.

Money generated by Saturday’s haul will help Kalispell buy a few more trees to plant this year, likely at a spring planting at Edgerton Elementary School on Arbor Day, Baker said.

After a classroom presentation, third-grade students there will help plant the trees. “We rotate schools each year,” Baker said.

Albright encouraged people to start saving up their newspapers and other recyclable materials for the fall Trees to Paper to Trees collection.

“We’re always happy to have them,” she said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.