Recycling donations given to schools

LIHU’E — Owners of the Kauai Community Recycling Service (KCRS) have been in a taking mood since they opened on the island in 2002.

On Monday, Feb. 2, KCRS officials will be giving back to the community.

The organization, owned and operated by business partners James Higginbotham and Peter Manos, will be donating a $250 check to representatives of Wilcox Elementary School.

The owners of KCRS are starting a new, monthly, residential-recycling initiative in which they will take a portion of the fee they receive from customers throughout Kaua’i and donate it to a school.

“The community sees the importance of recycling,” said Higginbotham. “There are too many costs to the environment, and our landfill is being overloaded.

“The customers feel, in essence, that they are helping to give back to the community. They feel like they are contributing.”

Higginbotham and Manos currently have approximately 400 residential customers throughout many areas of Kaua’i. The organization collects and recycles glass, aluminum, plastic, cardboard and paper.

“I think it’s great that they would like to help out the community and donate to our school,” said Rachel Watarai, principal at the Wilcox Elementary School.

According to Watarai, the check will be used for recycling efforts at the school.

“We will be giving it over to our Student Council so that they can use it to recycle around the school.”

Customers pay $10 per month for KCRS to pick up recyclables every other week. In the new initiative, a portion of the fee obtained through the recycling of glass and aluminum (based on tonnage) will be used for the school donations.

“We want to keep Kaua’i as ‘the Garden Island,’ not ‘the garbage island,'” said Higginbotham. “People see the importance of recycling, and they want to help.”

Business Editor Barry Graham may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or mailto:bgraham@pulitzer.net.