Edina Students Get Cash for Cans

It looks like ’s Project Earth just might get their Hydration Station after all. Earlier this month, Project Earth accepted $1,000 from Conservation Minnesota and plans to put the funds toward the purchase of . 

Rachael Pream Grenier, the staff advisor for Project Earth, said the group was approached by Conservation Minnesota to help spread awareness about the Recycling Refund Act, which was introduced in April to the Minnesota State Legislature. Conservation Minnesota challenged Edina students to collect 15,000 cans and bottles in three weeks, saying that if they could round up the recyclables in time, Conservation Minnesota would reward them with $1,500–or 10 cents per container. 

It might sound like a hefty goal, but even before Project Earth was contacted by Conservation Minnesota, Edina High School students were collecting some 3,000 beverage containers each week. And that’s without any monetary incentive.

Project Earth led the collection effort at Edina High School and  participated as well. The recycling drive lasted about two weeks, with more than 10,000 beverage containers collected by Project Earth and 5,000 collected by Valley View in that short time. On May 6, Conservation Minnesota Voter Center presented both schools with a check for their share of the prize: $1,000 to Project Earth and $500 to Valley View.

Rick Fuentes, communications director at Conservation Minnesota, said the organization learned of the recycling efforts already in place at EHS and decided to present the students with a challenge to reward their environmental endeavor and to show how the Recycling Refund Act would work. 

The Recyling Refund Act would require a 10 cent refund to be placed on recyclable beverage containers. The idea is that the refund would be a means of encouraging and rewarding recycling, leading to substantially higher rates of recycling in the state. Similar laws have proven successful in other states like Michigan, where the statewide recycling rate for beverage cans and bottles is at an impressive 97 percent. Minnesota’s current rate is just 35 percent. 

Proponents of the bill argue that, in addition to the obvious positive environmental impact, the Recycling Refund Act would generate jobs and provide fundraising opportunities for schools and civic organizations.

“If the Recycling Refund bill is enacted, every school, scout or church group could generate that kind of revenue on a regular basis, and the state of Minnesota would double our recycling,” Fuentes said. “We hope that lessons these kids taught us will be appreciated by our legislators in St. Paul.”