Edith Bowen calls for used ink cartridges
Utah State University students can help Edith Bowen fifth-graders travel to the Tetons by recycling their used ink cartridges in a bin located outside the Copy Center in the Taggart Student Center.
Edith Bowen Laboratory School will receive $1 to $8 from the Providence company Laser Precision for each cartridge recycled, helping to make up for funding cut from the school’s budget that allows the school’s fifth-graders to travel to the Tetons each year to conduct science experiments, said Cable Jones, a USU student helping with the project.
Edith Bowen PTA president Debby Roghaar said other elementary schools have been able to earn up to $1,000 a year by being involved with this type of project, and Edith Bowen is hoping to raise at least $300 this year. Edith Bowen has been involved with the project since the fall.
“We decided to go ahead and do it because we lost some funding for the Teton Science School,” Roghaar said. “Some parents of fifth-graders got together and looked at opportunities to make some more money.”
Currently, the ink cartridges are being collected in a box inside the elementary school, in a bin in the TSC and in the plants, soils and botany department.
Jones, who became involved with the project to fulfill an environmental service project for a sociology class, said an estimated 780 million cartridges are thrown out worldwide each year with 250,000 of those cartridges coming from Cache Valley.
“Some of the cartridges don’t break down. There’s no way to actually recycle or use them in other materials or other types of packaging,” Jones said. “The next best thing to do with these cartridges is to remanufacture or to re-fill them. One cartridge can be used up to 10 times, which can really help slow the fill in landfills.”
Edith Bowen Principal Kaye Rhees said she is delighted companies are willing to financially support the school in this way and is excited the school is involved with something that is helping the environment.
“I’m excited we’re recycling these cartridges and not just disposing them. We’ve become a very disposable generation,” she said.
Roghaar said the only frustration with this project has been finding a way to take advantage of all the resources available to them.
“I’m sure that there are other opportunities on campus to gather empty cartridges. I’m just not sure how to capitalize on campus with this,” Roghaar said.
So far, several professors who have students attending Edith Bowen have been e-mailed information on where to send cartridges and how to get their departments involved, Jones said. Jones also said any departments or faculty who wish to get involved in the project and help the Edith Bowen school, as well as protect the environment, should e-mail Jones at cable@cc.usu.edu.
The Tetons Science School is a school located in Montana where fifth-graders are given the chance to spend three days exploring the outdoors and learning about botany, biology and geology.
“All sorts of subjects are covered,” Roghaar said. “It’s all about science. It’s a great experience for our fifth-graders.”
-bnelson@cc.usu.edu