After being given assurances by state officials that they would qualify for some substantial cash prizes if they placed high in a statewide recycling contest, leaders at St. Theresa’s School have still not received a penny after collecting and recycling
After being given assurances by state officials that they would qualify for some substantial cash prizes if they placed high in a statewide recycling contest, leaders at St. Theresa’s School have still not received a penny after collecting and recycling more beverage containers than all but folks at three participating schools in Hawai‘i.
And the contest ended with the end of 2004.
Students, parents, faculty, staff, parishioners, families and friends at St. Theresa’s School in Kekaha gathered, sorted, stored, and trucked to Lihu‘e for recycling way more containers than those at any other private school in the state, and recycled more aluminum, plastic and glass containers than folks at a lot of much-larger public schools across the state.
The state Department of Health competition to encourage recycling in advance of full implementation of the state’s bottle bill saw St. Theresa’s students, staff, faculty, parents, parishioners, families and friends collect 1,264 pounds of aluminum, 42 pounds of plastics, and a staggering 39,856 containers (39,184 cans and 672 plastic).
The total was more than all but three other schools in the state.
If school leaders would have been allowed to participate in the contest, they would have won $5,000 for ending in second place in the small-schools category.
Darcie Yukimura, a state Deparwtment of Health spokesperson (DOH officials sponsored thew contest), said state funds cannot be given to private schools, which is why leaders at St. Theresa’s didn’t qualify for the big bucks in the statewide recycling contest.
Sister Elizabeth Ann Miller, principal of St. Theresa’s, was disappointed when she was informed that those at private schools were not in contention for the biggest cash prizes. “We were depending on that money from recyclables” to cover school expenses, she said.
School parents and other volunteers rounded up trucks and trailers, including a horse trailer, to haul the containers, which were stored at the school and took up more room late last year because they wouldn’t be accepted if they were crushed, Miller said.
Some seven truckloads of containers were hauled from Kekaha to Lihu‘e, Miller said.
Yukimura, a Kaua‘i girl and daughter of Peter and Lani Yukimura of Lihu‘e, said St. Theresa’s officials should be getting $2,000 for their efforts. State DOH officials contacted leaders in the Hawaii Food Industry Association (HFIA), who agreed to get funds from members to give cash awards to private-school winners in the contest.
Leaders at Big Save, Food-land, Safeway, and other local stores are HFIA members. DOH officials indicated Foodland, 7-Eleven and Star Markets leaders partnered with DOH leaders to sponsor the cash prizes for winners in the private-school category.
Miller said she got a call from one of the HFIA members, asking when would be a good time to deliver the check. A presentation might happen this Thursday, March 24, nearly three months after the contest ended.
The HFIA member never got back to her to confirm the checkpassing appointment early Thursday morning, she said.
The delay might be explained by the fact that Ed Thompson, executive director of the HFIA, was having some difficulty coordinating the collection of individual checks from HFIA members for the private-school payouts, he said.
“We’ll get the money to the school,” Thompson promised.
With all the delays the run-around, Miller said she will believe it when she sees it.
Statewide, the DOH 2004 School Recycling Challenge saw volunteers, staff, faculty, administrators and others at 58 schools recycle 652,195 aluminum, plastic and glass beverage containers.
The challenge was designed to help implement the state’s beverage-container deposit law, passed by the state Legislature in 2002, by clearing non-refundable beverage containers out of the system that did not have the “HI-5” deposit label on them.
It also served to get young people into the habit of recycling, a state DOH spokesperson said.
“The schools that participated in the challenge have done a great job of recycling for our state, and served to motivate people to get into the habit of recycling,” said Dr. Chiyome Fukino, DOH director.
“We thank our partners for helping us to provide awards for all participants. We hope schools will consider making recycling a year-round activity,” she said.
- For more information: www.hi5deposit.com., or call toll-free at 274-3141, then dial 6-4226# .
- Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
