Ms. Dolly Jackson, with her bottle cap "crown," and her University Place students are honored for their recycling efforts.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) – Forty-three Huntsville schools competed in Operation Green Team’s annual plastic bottle top recycling contest.
But, there could only be one winner and, once again, it was University Place Elementary.
Ms. Dolly Jackson’s response?
“Of course, we won. We always win.”
The long-time teacher, known simply as Ms. Dolly, to generations of students spearheaded the effort to collect 3,052,230 of the caps.
Some of the tops came from as far away as Germany. Yes, Germany.
Over the last six years of the contest, Ms. Dolly has become known for her bottle cap collecting and word has apparently spread. This year, someone mailed her a package of the recyclables from Germany.
Each of the top performing schools receives a trophy and a cash prize, courtesy of Operation Green Team’s sponsors.
However, Ms. Dolly says that’s not the only pay-off for her students.
“It teaches them to try to preserve the little earth we have here,” she says.
Altogether, this year’s contest yielded 13,018,734 million plastic bottle tops, which will be turned into paint cans.
