Northern B.C. secondary and elementary schools collected more than 213,220 beverage containers during the 2011/2012 school year as part of Encorp Pacific (Canada)’s B.C. School Recycling Program. The total refund deposits earned for all northern schools reached $66,559.04.
Nechako Valley Secondary in Vanderhoof took the top spot for collecting 68,110 containers and earning $4,450.40 in deposit refunds.
“Nechako Valley won an additional $1,000 for having the best score in their enrollment category of 501 to 750 students,” says Sandy Sigmund, Vice President Development and CMO, Encorp Pacific (Canada). They now have a total of $5,450.40 to go towards school activities and equipment purchases.”
Encorp Pacific (Canada) B.C. School Recycling Program provides schools with the tools and resources to make recycling easy, convenient and profitable. Since the program’s inception in 2000, over 40 million containers have been recycled and BC schools have been refunded more than $2.4 million.
Schools keep 100 per cent of the deposit refunds for each container collected and the program is free of charge. The schools are grouped into categories, based on student enrollment, and the schools that collect the most containers in each category win cash prizes of $1,000, $750 and $500 for first, second and third.
This year’s northern B.C. school highlights also include:
Charles Hay Secondary in Prince Rupert took first place in B.C. in their enrolment category of 751 to 1,000 students. Charles Hay collected 64,029 containers, earned $4,344.89 in refund deposits and $1,000 in prize money.
Mackenzie Secondary came in third in its enrolment category of 200 to 500 students by collecting 26,579 containers. They earned $1,659.12 in deposit returns and $500.00 in prize money for a total of $2,159.12.
Honourable mentions go to: Kersley Elementary in Quesnel for coming fourth in its category collecting 45,746; to Christian Life School with 6,512 containers and Westside Academy in Prince George for with 5,415 containers coming fourth and fifth respectively in the one to 150 students category; to Muheim Memorial Elementary in Smithers for coming fifth in its category of 150 to 300 students with 46,759 containers.
Quesnel area schools collected 94,777 containers with Correlieu Secondary bringing in 20,541 and earning $1,041.87 in deposit refunds.
Prince George Schools collected 84,238 containers with Foothills Elementary collecting the most containers – 22,811 and earning $1,419.
Lakes District Secondary in Burns Lake brought in 19,975 containers and earned $1,005.65.
Encorp thanks all the schools who took part in the B.C. School Recycling Program. Just go to www.return-it.ca/youthcentre/ for more information on how your school ranked, or to enter the Encorp School Recycling Program.
“Hats off to the work students, teachers and parents are doing to enhance environmental youth leadership in B.C. schools,” said Encorp’s Sandy Sigmund.
Other recognition opportunities include; all top five schools from each enrolment category are recognized, with a year-end achievement certificate and individual award certificates are available for “superstar recyclers” at elementary schools. Recognized elementary and secondary schools from all parts of B.C. are encouraged to participate.
Encorp Pacific (Canada) is a federally incorporated not-for-profit stewardship corporation with beverage container management as its core business. They are committed to developing and managing a consumer-friendly and cost-effective system to recover beverage containers from consumers and ensure that they are recycled and not incinerated or land filled. They also provide their stewardship services on a contract basis to the Electronics Industry for the collection and recycling of regulated products, as well as the Dairy Industry to manage their voluntary Milk recycling program. To learn more about Encorp Pacific, visit return-it.ca