ELEELE Courtney Faria, a second-grader at Eleele School, was announced the top recycler for 2019 during an awards ceremony Friday.
ELEELE — Courtney Faria, a second-grader at Eleele School, was announced the top recycler for 2019 during an awards ceremony Friday.
The award was presented by Keola Aki, county recycling program coordinator, who represented Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami at the first School Electronic Waste (eWaste) Recycling Contest that ran during the month of April.
Faria, a student in Jana Miyazaki’s class, turned in 187 pieces of eWaste for recycling to earn the honor that included a signed commendation and a Pizza Hut gift card.
Tavesi Harris of Waimea Canyon Middle School earned the honor of being the top middle-school student recycler. Harris is a student of teachers Lisa Yamagata and Diane Foulks in the school’s climate action class.
Miyazaki’s and Alisha Siliado’s second-grade classes from Eleele School earned an end-of-the-year pizza party, with student participants receiving Jamba Juice gift cards.
Joel Kawate’s fourth-grade class at Kalaheo School was also presented with a pizza party and gift cards for the students.
Aki thanked all of the schools that took part in the contest, and Maile Smith for her efforts at organizing the Kalaheo School’s recycling efforts during the year. He also commended the service of Resource Recovery Systems, operating out of the Puhi Metals Recycling facility, for facilitating all the eWaste recycling on the island.
The county Department of Public Works Solid Waste Division looks forward to expanding this contest during the next school year to include on-campus recycling for schools desiring to host a schoolwide recycling drive, according to a press release.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
