State Honors Children's Museum of Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES--The California Integrated Waste Management Board today honored the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles with an award for its outstanding Art2Go program, which diverts surplus materials from businesses into art supplies for LA area schools. The Waste Board is the state’s primary recycling agency and part of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Waste Board Chair Linda Moulton-Patterson presented the California Materials Exchange (CalMAX) "Connection of the Year" award for 2001 to Melanie Cotton, member of the Board of Trustees, for the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles (www.childrensmuseumla.org). The CalMAX Connection of the Year award is given annually to organizations that implement outstanding reuse programs for surplus materials.

"The Children’s Museum of Los Angeles Art2Go program is an excellent example of how we can work together to develop fun and interesting ways of learning for our children, especially when it comes to preserving our precious resources and the environment," said Moulton-Patterson. "I want to thank the Museum for its commitment to the children of Los Angeles and its continuing dedication to recycling and reuse."

Art2Go, the Children’s Museum’s mobile recycled arts program, has been educating teachers and students about the benefits of reuse by converting leftover materials from businesses and manufacturers into art supplies. By bringing the Art2Go program directly into Los Angeles communities, the Museum has established a fun and easily understandable way to teach young people about the importance of environmental stewardship.

CalMAX provides an exhaustive list of surplus materials, allowing schools, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to locate and exchange materials instead of sending them to the landfill. Users can post either "available" or "wanted" ads for specific materials they have, or need, in the online CalMAX listings (www.ciwmb.ca.gov/CalMAX/) and/or the quarterly "Waste-Not Want Ads" catalog. The Museum has used CalMAX to locate available materials since 1997.

Last year, CalMAX created more than 560 significant exchanges, moving in excess of 150,000 tons of surplus materials between a variety of businesses and institutions. Since its inception, CalMAX has helped save companies nearly $6 million in reduced procurement and avoided disposal costs, while helping communities divert hundreds of thousands of tons of waste from California landfills.

For more information about the Art2Go program, contact Jennifer Gordon, Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator for the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles at (213) 687-8800, or jennifer@childrensmuseumla.org.

The six-member California Integrated Waste Management Board is responsible for protecting public health and safety and the environment through management of the estimated 66 million tons of solid waste generated in California each year. The Board works in partnership with local government, industry, and the public to reduce solid waste disposal and ensure environmentally safe landfills. California now diverts 42 percent of its solid waste away from disposal.

The Waste Board is one of six boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

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