
Calling all 3rd Graders
RECYCLEBOT CHALLENGE
is back for 2023! Submissions are now being accepted from any Rutherford County, NC, 3rd Grader now until April 7th, 2023
Take a look at our previous winners and get details on how it works below!
How It Works
Build your RecycleBot and take some pictures to share with us.
Submit pictures of your RecycleBot ONLY. We will not include any pictures of the creator for voting purposes. Voting will be anonymous.

Submissions will be voted on in these categories:
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Best Overall (Bot and Story)
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Most Creative (good imagination or original ideas)
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Most Unique (good message, fun, unusual items)
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Best Use of Plastic and/or Styrofoam
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Best Use of Paper and/or Textiles
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Best Use of E-Waste (Metal and/or Electronics)
Last Year's Prizes
prizes

SEED PAPER
2022 Best-Of-The-Best RecycleBot
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all involved. This would not be possible without the support of the KRCB Committee, the participation from our public & private school systems, their teachers, the students' parents, and the donations from our prize sponsors. To see all 92 submissions, check out the KRCB Facebook page. You can also find out about other initiatives in the county spearheaded by KRCB to make a cleaner, more sustainable future. You can watch the announcement video here.
The votes have been tallied and recounted and the winners for the 2022 RecycleBots Challenge have been chosen! Judges included KRCB Committee Chairs Jess Kerr and Jenna Bailey; committee membersTaylor Hardin, Amanda Byers, and the 2021 Mrs. North Carolina Earth, Dana Causby; community partners Sam Brooks and Shelley Roberts; and Mascots Roxi and Rocki Raccoon.
Winners for Best Overall (Bot and Story) are:
1st Place / Jackson Appling with “Mad Recycler” the RecycleBot at Sunshine Elementary School
What does “Mad Recycler” do? Lives on Earth. His RecycleBot goes around the earth collecting trash and turns it into clothes, homes, furniture and paper.
What materials were used? Soda cans, trash bag box, plant pots.
2nd Place / Shine Higgins with “Bouncy Butterfly” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School.
3rd Place / Addie Pinder with “Ricky and Rain” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle ElementarySchool.
Winners for Most Unique are:
1st Place / Kade Martin with “Brantoy” the RecycleBot at Cliffside Elementary School
What does “Brantoy” do? Brantoy lives at a dump site.He blows up trash and is good attaking out the trash and picks up people’s trash.
What materials were used? Bottle caps, paper towelrolls, tape.
2nd Place / Christian with “Siren Recycler” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School
3rd Place / Carton Manis with “Trash Cleaner” the RecycleBot at Rutherfordton Elementary School.
Winners for Best Use of Plastic and/or Styrofoam are:
1st Place / Isabella Eubanks with “Max” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School.
What does “Max” do? Max lives at the park, has a tail that delivers trash into two main categories - recycling and trash. His hat is a water squirter that waters the plants such as fruits, vegetables, and just wild plants. The pink spot with the yellow light scans for trash.
What materials were used? Plastic, metal, paper, tape.
2nd Place / Ivey Lawson and Ava Goode with “Millie” the RecycleBot at Cliffside Elementary School
3rd Place / Braylee Price and Lucy Jones with “Glamrock Freddy” the RecycleBot at Cliffside Elementary School
Winners for Best Use of Paper and/or Textiles are:
1st Place / Maggie Player with “Mary” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School What
What does “Mary” do? Mary lives inside a cat room. Her RecycleBot takes walks and picks up trash along the way. When her boots get full of trash, she walks home, goes in her catroom and puts them in the correct bins. After that if her tail wags then there is still trash out there. Her gems on her boots help her locate the trash, then she does it all over again!
What materials were used? Two liter bottle, scrap paper, pipe cleaners, bottle caps, and tape.
2nd Place / Abbygail Rose Elliot with “Earth Day” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School.
3rd Place / Emma Hahn with “Sponge Clean” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School.
Winners for Most Creative (good imagination or original ideas) are:
1st Place / Lily Hudson and Ciara Early with “Izze and Lizze” the RecycleBots at Cliffside Elementary School.
What does “Izze and Lizze” do? They live in America and do gymnastics for two, dancing, cooking, cleaning, shopping, writing, and reading books to kids.
What materials were used? Boxes, foam, bottle caps, tin foil, egg carton, paint, tape.
2nd Place / Stailey Arrowood with “Monk” the RecycleBot at Pinnacle Elementary School
3rd Place / Kyah Cogdell with “Frank” the RecycleBot at Trinity Christian School.
Winners for Fan Favorite (based on facebook votes) are:
1st Place / Sydnee Gurr and Huntley Bailey with “Wall-e” the RecycleBot at Cliffside Elementary School
What does “Wall-e” do? Wall-e lives in a junkyard. He picks up trash and turns it into cubes
What materials were used? Cardboard box, toilet and paper rolls, googly eyes, string.
2nd Place / Lincoln Parton with “The Dump and Bo-Bot” RecycleBot at Trinity Christian School
3rd Place / Cohen Pritchard with “Tissue Joe HoHo” the RecycleBot at Trinity Christian School
2022 Participants
Every third-grader who submitted a RecycleBot in the challenge received a special RecycleBot sticker and a paper leaf seed packet to plant. We would like to acknowledge all the third-graders who entered the 2022 RecycleBot Challenge by listing them below by School & Teacher. See all the submissions here.
Cliffside Elementary School:
Mrs. Kimbrell: Huntley Bailey, Holden Drewery, Mykal Franklin, Sidney Gurr, Lucy Jones, Kaven Ledbetter, Kade Martin, Lily Parker, Braylee Price, Hayden Riddle, Callan Spawn, Myric Yelton
Mrs. McAbee: Emilee Cordova, Abbie Davis, Ciara Early, Ava Goode, Brantley Gregory, Patience Hardin, Lily Hudson, Ivey Lawson, Trinity Lee, Legend Moore, Lucas Page, Dylan Pardue, Corey Sharpton, Jenny Tallent, Gael Zapata
Mrs. Reynolds: Carter Ellis, Kaiden Hawkins, Lukas Henson, Chad Hunt, Brielle Matthews,Catalina Walker, Brayden Queen
Pinnacle Elementary School:
Mrs. Hutchins: Christian Aroche Rios, Stailey Arrowood, Banjo Braswell, Payton Crawford, Abbygail Elliott, Isabella Eubanks, Emma Hahn, Shine Higgins, Brayden Jonas, Brielle Kaahui, Lacey Nelon, Maggie Player, Addie Pinder
Mrs. Summey: Aiya Alameddine, Alexander Aroche Rios, McKenna Calvert, James Cash IV, Sabriel Cochran, Isaiah Davis, Liam Epley, Alexis Fowler, Jadyn Greenlee, Ada Hendrix, Kirra Krigbaum, Aceton Washburn
Rutherfordton Elementary School:
Mrs. Beattie: Brooklyn Johnson, Jackson Lail, Bailey McDaniel, Malissa Miller, Leo Ramirez Isaac Romero, Emily Tate
Mrs. Bradley: Jaxon Appling, Adalynn Conard, Sadie Ferguson, Bryson Gillespie, Emmalee Kuhl, Jordan Rodriguez-Dow, Neveah Shelton, Michael Whittemore
Mrs. High: Shawn Richmond
Mrs. Hodge: Marice Burbank, Peyton Harris, Madison Meeks, Titus Richmond, Adeline Rodriguez, Madison Ruppe, Molly Sutton, Chris Voltz, Amira Wingo, Kaden Wellborn
Mrs. Yelton: Noah Cavender, Sabrina Conner, Ethan Hilligus, Ember Holland, Gabriel Holness Carson Manis, Gralyn Mauney, Reagan O’Donnell, Aileen Perez, Autumn Toms
Trinity Christian School:
Mrs. Crowe: Katelyn Blanchette, Kyah Cogdell, Elias Jenkins, Olivia Munez, Lincoln Parton,Cohen Pritchard, Makenna Queen, Ocean Rash, Andrew Vassey