All Battery Center Facilitates School Recycling Competition
Cedar Falls Times
February 5, 2010
Cedar Heights Elementary staff and kids are recharged for winter.
Before Christmas break, the school set out to create one massive jolt of energy. Along with Southdale school, they competed in a battery recycling campaign that kept over 4,000 pounds of lead out of landfills and educated participants about the importance of reusing energy to create a greener future.
"We didn't really know what to expect but the kids really were excited about the contest," said Cedar Heights Principal Jon Wiebers. "We had relatives of kids who came in from out of town to drop off batteries."
Before Wiebers knew it, the collection tubs set up around the school were stuffed with AA and AAA batteries, and overflowed with old car, tractor, motorcycle and marine batteries.
In the end, Cedar Heights prevailed, collecting 2,577 pounds of batteries. Their reward was as sweet as the competition benefit– a Cold Stone ice cream party.
It didn't take long for Wiebers to give Southdale Principal Mr. Brummond a call. Brummond listened as Wiebers took his best American Idol shot at "We Are The Champions."
Looking back, Wiebers is grateful to UNI's Recycle and Reuse Transfer Center (RRTC) Program and Community Outreach Coordinator Jenny Bruss for approaching him with the idea.
"It tied in with our curriculum–teaching our kids about the necessity to recycle and take care of the environment. It was motivating for all of us," Wiebers added.
When it came time to dispose of the batteries, the schools teamed up with Matt and Nancy Breen, owners of Interstate All Battery Center in Ames.
"We had no idea it would amount to this," said Nancy, whose store distributes everything from alkalines to fork lift batteries to hundreds of commercial and personal customers in 35 counties. "They did so well, we had to end up taking one of our big trucks to Cedar Falls to pick all them up."
The Interstate Batteries franchise is the No. 1 battery recycler in the U.S., Nancy continued, with more than 150 million pounds of batteries recycled last year. Coming up, Nancy has been discussing an even larger endeavor with Bruss for Earth Day 2010.
Visit UNI's RRTC Web site at www.rrttc.com for locations and details on recycling in Black Hawk County.
