With many businesses and organizations around the country going ‘green,? Leonard resident Jessica Sineo decided it was time Oxford schools start a schoolwide recycling program.
Starting this week, children at Leonard Elementary will be able to dispose of their milk cartons and plastics into a special can as well as old cell phones and used printer ink cartridges.
Sineo, a mother of two young children and parent volunteer at the school, knew it was time for a change when her kids came home with empty lunch sacks one day.
When they told her they would throw out their applesauce containers, she began brainstorming.
She asked the Odd Job Disposal company to donate the cans for the paper cartons and plastics, which they use to pick up the recyclables every Tuesday.
Through the organization phoneraiser.com, the school will collect money from any used cell phones and printer ink cartridges dropped off in the lobby and other locations.
Ink cartridges will get the school anywhere from a 5-50? profit, while cell phones can range anywhere from $3-150, depending on the brand.
‘We are starting the fund-raiser to provide extra funds for the school so that we could have a recycling bin in everybody’s classroom,? Sineo said. ‘They don’t have any extra funds in the budget for that.?
The cell phones and ink cartridges can be dropped off in the lobby of the school, at the Cooper Standard facility on E. Elmwood in Leonard and at Patterson Prescription Pharmacy in downtown Oxford.
Once they are all collected, Sineo will ship them free of charge to phoneraiser.com and then the school will receive a check for a specified amount.
Sineo, who recently moved to Leonard from New York, calls herself an ‘avid environmentalist? since high school and noticed the Midwest hasn’t been as conscious about recycling as people on the east coast.
?(It’s) really hazardous for the environment to put the cell phones into the landfill,? she said.
According to their website, phoneraiser.com states that ‘improper disposal of cell phones is a serious threat to the environment.?
Every cell phone contains eight hazardous materials, including arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc, which can seep into ground water and soil.
Burning them in an incinerator only leads to the release of toxic chemicals associated with reproductive complications, cancers and developmental problems.
Sineo said she hopes the other four elementary schools will be a part of the program one day, but that Leonard will be the pilot school for now.
‘I want to emphasize that it depends on the community to make this work,? she said. ‘The more money we can raise, the more green we can be.?
For more information on the recycling fund-raiser or program, contact Jessica Sineo at (248) 236-9904.