Hollywood Residents Can Designate a School to Receive Their Recycling Points

Hollywood residents who are enrolled in their city's RecycleBank rewards program can now designate one of two Hollywood schools to receive the points they earn through their participation.

RecycleBank awards points to residents based on the pounds of recyclables placed in special cans for pick-up. Residents can then redeem the points for products or discounts at local businesses. Now, instead, residents can opt to award their points to The Quest Center or Hollywood Hills High School.

RecycleBank offers environmental grants to schools in communities it services. The caveat is that the students need to earn points in a true grassroots effort, encouraging friends and neighbors to donate points to their school.

The Quest Center will receive up to $5,000, depending on the points designated by residents, to use in building a wheelchair accessible butterfly garden and to expand the community recycling projects run by the center's students. The Quest Center serves students with profound special needs, such as autism, Down-syndrome, cerebral palsy, medically fragile conditions and other difficult challenges. The RecycleBank grant request was written by Dr. David Lazerson, music teacher at the Center, and Debra Kalitan, the autism coach.

In describing the butterfly garden project, Kalitan said, “Some of the students have limited vision in addition to physical disabilities. To be in the garden, amongst the butterflies, birds and flowering plants, rather than on the periphery, would be so wonderful for these students.”

Hollywood Hills High School will receive up to $4,080, depending on the points designated by residents. The school's Key Club plans to use the money to remove invasive plants from their campus and to purchase and plant native plants. They will also use the funds for campus beautification projects.

The school's Eco Crew Club plans to use the funds it receives to not only improve the environment, but also the Hollywood community. Club members plan to use the funds to purchase and replant mangroves along Hollywood Beach.

Hollywood residents can donate their points to either The Quest Center or Hollywood Hills High School by signing-in to their RecycleBank account at (www.recyclebank.com) and clicking on the “Green School Program” in the list of potential rewards.