Graphic by Vardan Sargsyan
By Nicholas Ketchum
Staff Writer
Students are helping battle food insecurity, while promoting environmental sustainability in the process.
Over the last several weeks a small student group from WCC Student Organizations Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society (PTK) has teamed up with the facilities department to help keep the college’s emergency food pantry provisioned.
The students joined forces with the facilities department, whose custodial staff collects plastic recyclables from on-campus disposal bins, separates and stores returnable bottles at the recycling operations department.
Once enough bottles are stockpiled at recycling operations, students pick them up and redeem them at nearby grocery stores for ten cents per bottle as prescribed by the Michigan bottle deposit law.
Shaina DeVries and Joshua Edinger are two such students involved in the effort.
Since October, DeVries and Edinger—along with others—have recycled thousands of returnable bottles, taking advantage of the ten cent Michigan bottle deposit.
After recycling and collecting deposits, the students then donate all of the proceeds to the food pantry to assist their efforts in fighting food insecurity.
This fall semester the students and their departmental counterparts have raised over $1299 from 12,700 individual bottle returns.
Rebecca Andrews, Recycle Operations Manager at WCC, is a strong supporter and collaborator in the initiative.
“[The new funds] really made a big difference; I was shocked,” said Andrews.
She continued, “They’re honorary members of the facilities department—they really are.”
The bottles are carried in large 80-gallon bags, which prompted DeVries to quickly calculate how many bags they’ve likely filled.
“That’s 81 bags,” said DeVries, also noting two additional bags had just gone out, with another four scheduled the next day.
That’s a lot of bottles.
So many that bottle return machines often broke down, causing frustration among businesses in the area, according to DeVries and Edinger. However, they were able to find large nearby supermarkets friendly to their cause.
People who receive assistance from the food pantry remain anonymous, and can receive some forms of additional help, such as receiving funds for emergency tuition, hygiene products, and other necessities.
Phi Theta Kappa is a worldwide two-year college honor society for academic high-performers that, according to its website, recognizes “academic achievement” and provides “opportunities for [students] to grow as scholars and leaders.”
