Phi Theta Kappa Honors Fraternity and the facilities management department reached
a milestone recently, collecting over 50,000 returnable beverage containers to raise
$5,000 for WCC’s emergency food pantry.
Food insecurity, the inability to have enough food to live an active, healthy life, has increased among college students.
Through its emergency food pantry, the Student Resource Center assists students with food insecurity issues. The number of students seeking assistance has increased steadily since the pantry was established. During the 2018-2019 academic year, 191 students received assistance.
The goal of the project was to redeem bottle deposits prior to recycling so the 10-cent deposit wasn’t “lost.” Bottles in recycle bins were collected by custodians and sorted by the recycling operations department. Phi Theta Kappa, Students for Sustainability and Transfer to Success members then took the bottles to a local supermarket for redemption, and proceeds were disbursed to the food pantry and other student organizations.
Not only did the returned bottles help fund student needs, the energy saved through recycling was enough to run a 36” television for 50,365 hours.
Projects that make a positive impact on society, the environment, and profit are known as triple bottom line because of the three areas of impact. ”We were happy to partner on a project to raise money to help students while maximizing recycling at WCC,” said Recycling Operations Manager Rebecca Andrews.
Those who wish to learn more about recycling at WCC are encouraged to contact Andrews at [email protected].