P.G. schools recycle for cash

While recycling is an important part of investing in the environment, a group of Prince George schools have also used it to invest in their community.

Last year, seven P.G. schools - College Heights, Foothills and Hart Highlands elementary schools, College Heights and D. P. Toddy secondary schools and Westside Academy - participated in Encorp's BC School Recycling Program.

Encorp is a federally funded non-for-profit stewardship corporation and the program provides schools with the tools and resources to make recycling easy and profitable. The schools keep all of the deposit funds collected and the program does not cost them anything to participate.

Between them, they collected more than 63,000 containers and brought in almost $4,000 in deposits. Since the program began in 2000, 37 million beverage containers have been collected in B.C. and $2.2 million in deposits have been refunded.

"The students and teachers in Prince George contributed in taking the equivalent of 39,000 cars off B.C. roads for year," said Sandy Sigmund, Encorp Pacific (Canada) chief marketing officer, in a press release. "We look forward to their participation this school year."

Foothills Elementary teacher Barb Kelly led the charge at her school, bringing them to collecting the most in the city and fourth place in their enrollment category. While she said recycling is something the school was already doing, enrolling and receiving new collection containers is a bonus.

"That really helps in the school, for sure," she said. The school's leadership took control of the program and brought in containers through a couple of big bottle drives. The money raised went towards charitable causes - such as building a well in Uganda - as well as school programs such as music.

At Hart Highlands Elementary School, principal Rick Urquhart said while the aspect of recycling for the good of the environment is important, having a regular collection in a competitive setting - schools can track their progress on a website and compare themselves to other enrolled schools - gives students another meaningful role in the school community.

"The website is extremely easy to use and the students like seeing whatever our amounts are and what's coming back to the school," Urquhart said.

While he said there was not a great deal of money brought in (since there are no vending machines selling pop in the school), Grade 5 students still had the opportunity to round up whatever was brought from home for the principal to take to the bottle depot.

"It's good for the kids to get involved," he said.

Parent volunteer Jacqui Dockray is hoping to spread the word about the program further this year at College Heights Elementary School.

"I think when places like Encorp offer... the opportunity to think about the environment, only good can come from that," she said.

Though the school had a late start with enrolling last year, Dockray said she's hoping to present it as more of a fundraising opportunity.

"It's always nice when there's a goal," she said. "Yes, you're doing this because it's good for the environment, but there are other things along with this."

Every year, Encorp offers prize money to the top schools in the province. The schools are grouped into categories, based on enrolment.

This year, the pot has increased so the first-place school receives $1,000, the second-place school receives $750 and the third-place school receives $500. The top five schools in each enrolment category are recognized as well.

But for Dockray, getting kids involved in recycling is good enough. "The prize is it's just the right thing to do."

For more information, or to enrol in the program, visit www.return-it.ca/youthcentre.