Recycle Here! is deep in the throes of a month-long competition sponsored by Pepsi. If it wins, the group plans to use the $250,000 to institute its comprehensive recycling program in every Detroit public school, which would reach nearly 90,000 students.
Recycle Here! has worked in Detroit Public Schools since 2007, reaching 30,000 youths. Last year, Recycle Here! worked closely with 10 schools to implement cardboard and paper recycling programs, as well as an educational component that is aligned with aligned with the State Board of Education Grade Level Content Expectations and is Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics-based.
The Pepsi competition would let Recycle Here! immediately purchase a dedicated bin for every DPS school, meaning that the school district would own these containers and be able to pull in revenue from the paper that will then be used to fund the education program annually. Winning concepts receive funding immediately and have one year to implement their projects.
The winner is determined through a voting system at
www.refresheverything.com. The Recycle Here! site is located at
www.refresheverything.com/recyclingindetroitschools and includes an informational video on the initiative. Votes can be cast once a day, so Lauren Cooper, who is Recycle Here's communications director, thinks that repeat voters are the key to a winning campaign. "We have to keep the energy up through the whole month," she says.
Regardless of whether or not they win the $250,000, Recycle Here! plans to continue to expand its program within DPS. A nonprofit affiliate, Green Living Science, is being formed to open up additional funding avenues. "We'll look for other solutions to end up in other schools, and we will continue to work with waste haulers to recycle," says Cooper. "It will be a more piece-meal approach, (but we will still be bringing) recycling and education to more students."
Source: Lauren Cooper, Recycle Here!
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
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