Monta Vista Students Pledge 2 Recycle

In January, the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), a career-development club at , was looking for a business to team up for their Partnership with Business project. But they decided that instead of going for the technology-based companies they’d collaborated with in the past, they’d try something a little different.

FBLA members picked 7th Generation Recycling, a San Jose-based company that focuses on recycling textiles instead of plastics, aluminum and paper. Together, FBLA and 7th Generation started the Pledge 2 Recycle program.

“Last year, our school did a lot of green things. Recycling bins were put up around the campus and students were encouraged to walk to school,” said Laura Liu, a Monta Vista senior and the vice president of projects for FBLA. It was through these green initiatives that FBLA saw the opportunity to get students and the community involved in recycling the clutter in their closets. 

Pledge 2 Recycle participants committed to collecting pledges from students and Cupertino residents who were interested in receiving information about textile pickups. So far, the program has collected 120 pledges. They plan on developing an online pledge and are working on sending out information with Parent Teacher Student Association information packets to spread the word even further.

The FBLA has also held textile collection drives and placed a collection bin on campus accessible to students, parents and staff. 

Keshav Santhanam, the director of the Partnership with Business project and a Monta Vista junior, said that the reaction from the student body and the community has been positive. Club members, he said, are benefiting from the relationship with the business too.

“[7th Generation] is a smaller business, so that makes them easier to work with,” he said. “We knew we’d be able to have more of an impact with the company and in the project itself.”

According to Santhanam, 13 million tons of textiles go into landfills every year. With the information collected from pledges, 7th Generation will send out alerts about textile pickups. Residents can put clothes, shoes and household textiles curbside and the company will repurpose them.

“If the clothes are in good condition, 7th Generation will donate them or resell them,” Liu said. “If the clothes are in bad condition, they are used to create supplies such as mops.”

The program doesn't just benefit the environment, either. Three cents for every pound of textiles collected goes back to the school, Santhanam said.

Partnership with Business is intended to be a symbiotic relationship between a company and FBLA members, Santhanam explained. While students are gaining valuable, real-world business experience through the Pledge 2 Recycle program, 7th Generation is branching out into a new demographic.

“Before they started working with us, they were mostly targeting companies,” Liu said. “This was the first time they were targeting students and schools. Students have a lot of clothes that they are growing out of. They are enthusiastic, too. It’s a big deal for them to partner with us.”