Student Recycling Ambassadors from Rothesay High School pose with Pierre Landry (President and CEO, Encorp Atlantic), Frank LeBlanc (CEO, Recycle NB) and Emil Olsen (Vice-President, Recycle NB) during Encorp’s Earth Day celebration event.
Encorp showcased its vision for the New Brunswick Beverage Containers Program, now under an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model, during an Earth Day celebration event focusing on youth recyclers at Rothesay High School (Rothesay, NB) on Monday, April 22, 2024.
Representatives from Recycle NB and Encorp talked about the benefits of the new EPR Beverage Containers Program for all New Brunswickers. Media, as well as representatives from the Department of Environment and Climate Change, and from Encorp Atlantic’s Board of Directors, were in attendance.
We felt that hosting our Earth Day event about the new EPR Program with a focus on youth recyclers – by shining a spotlight on our Recycling Heroes in School Program – would be a great reminder of the importance of recycling education among youth for the future of waste reduction and environmental preservation.
Student Recycling Ambassadors from Rothesay High School, one of the top performing schools currently enrolled in this program, were asked to do a short presentation on how they fundraise through the daily collection and recycling of beverage containers at their school and through community bottle drives.
Our Recycling Heroes in School program is one of several Recycling Hero branded initiatives recently launched and designed to increase access to beverage container recycling in public spaces. Through this program, we provide schools with the necessary tools and support to set up recycling stations in classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias. We also link them with local redemption centres and track the number of containers they recycle through their schools’ accounts. We offer fun prizes to reward top-performing schools and help create a bit of positive competition and get schools to recycle as much as they can. But it’s the students – the Recycling Ambassadors – who drive the program’s success by educating their peers and being involved in the collection and recycling process. In fact, when applying to enroll in the program, schools must designate these Recycling Ambassadors – often a particular classroom, grade, or eco-group of students, who – along with their teacher or chaperones – become the leaders for their school’s beverage container recycling efforts for the school year.
It was great to see these young recyclers talk so enthusiastically about beverage container recycling and the impact it has had on them and their school. Currently, the 50 schools enrolled in our school recycling program have recycled over 650,000 containers, on track to achieve nearly one million by the end of the school year. We will be tallying up final counts and announcing our 2023-2024 school year prize winners in June. Stay tuned!
Our Recycling Heroes in School Program is available to all schools across the province and aims to foster a culture of recycling among youth. Interested schools can apply by filling out the application form on our website at encorpatl.ca/recycle.
Student Recycling Ambassadors – with their teachers – from Forest Glenn School (Moncton, NB) excitedly pose with Encorp’s Social Media & Outreach Coordinator, Sereana Simpson (second row, first from left) upon successfully enrolling in our Recyling Heroes in School Program and receiving a delivery of Recycling Hero bins, educational posters and fun promotional materials.
