Faith aims to recycle more trash for cash, charity

By Adrienne AndersonMay 24, 2013

FORT BENNING, Ga., (May 22, 2013) -- Can Faith Middle School make it to $1,000 before the end of the school year? May 30, the last day of school, is fast approaching, but Faith's ecology club and recycling coordinator, Julie Deckard thinks it can be done if people send in their drink pouches.

Deckard said the school only needs 1,174 drink pouches before reaching their 25,000 drink pouches goal. If not by the end of the year, Deckard hopes to reach the goal by the time she and her Family PCS to Fort Campbell in December.

"I would like everyone to look at recycling in a different way," she said. "I see it as an ongoing fundraiser that requires no door-to-door selling."

From box tops to toothpaste and even mp3 players, Faith Middle School has been collecting items from the Fort Benning community for the past two years. By doing so, Faith has raised money for its school and for charity.

Through recycling, she said, people can help with clean drinking water, meals and schools supplies or the environment by planting trees.

Deckard has put in more than 650 hours to sort items and package them to be shipped to Terra Cycle, but it's always easier with a team of people, she said.

"It doesn't take a lot of time as a group," Deckard said, adding that the school's ecology club, which meets once a week for an hour, is in charge of doing the recycling.

For those simply wanting to send in recyclables but think it may be tedious or complicated -- it's not, Deckard said.

Simply rinse out containers and put them in plastic bags. You don't even need to sort them by type. The ecology club will make sure items are sorted correctly, she said.

And despite the end of the school year coming up, people interested in recycling can still drop off items at Faith over the summer, she said.

For more information, contact Deckard at jcadeckard@yahoo.com with Re: Faith recycling in the subject line.