Nashua FFA Competes In Recycle Montana Trash Dash

Recycle Montana and Coca Cola recently sponsored the annual Recycle Montana Trash Dash Sept. 17 through the 24 awarding the participating teams cash prizes for picking up garbage and recyclables in areas across the state. The teams weighed the "stuff" they collected and submitted the weights to Recycle Montana. The weights were compared across the board and winners were selected for the Most Recyclables and Heaviest Garbage. Cash was also awarded to the Teams for the Best Use of the Trash Dash Logo and the Most Unusual Garbage or Recyclable.

Nashua School's FFA students decided to take on this challenge and collected both garbage and recyclables throughout the community while also designing a t-shirt with the Trash Dash logo.

"Nashua School's FFA members are encouraging community engagement and community service. The Recycle Montana Dash for Trash contest allowed the members to connect with the community of Nashua, and provide a service to promote conservation," explained Agriculture Educator and Nashua School FFA Advisor Tracy Cumber on the group's motivation to participate in the annual trash dash.

Throughout the week of competition, the Nashua FFA students, comprised of Reese Rovik, Grady Nielsen, Gracyn Sibley, Trever Turner, Noah Leckie and David Kennedy collected both trash and recyclables throughout the community during each class period. According to Cumber, members of the community either put their trash or recyclables outside for pick-up or invited the members to their place of business to help pick up trash or recycling materials that had accumulated for years. All of the collected materials were sorted in the shop and the recyclables were then sent to Billings for further recycling.

At the end of their collection period a total of 406 pounds of recyclables were collected, which allowed the Nashua School FFA to place second in the Most Recycleables category, while Glendive Recycles Our Waste (GROW) won with 4,350 pounds and Winifred FFA placed third with 96 pounds.

The Nashua School FFA students also placed third in the Best Use Of Trash Dash Logo category, with GROW placing first and Valier placing second. The Nashua student's logo incorporated the Trash Dash Logo along with the Nashua School Porcupine.

As a result of their placements in the two categories, the Nashua School FFA won a total of $200 and placed third overall in the contest.

Though this one week worth of collecting helped the community of Nashua in taking care of their garbage and recyclables, the students aren't done continuing to make their community cleaner. "The Nashua's FFA Strategic Plan includes the need to establish a local recyclable establishment and plans to continue the collection are included in the program of activities," explained Cumber.