Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Recycling fundraisers -- advice please

My husband has settled in as Scoutmaster of our son's troop. I've been tagged as both secretary and treasurer. All the other parents have at least one job/committee position. You can see that we need to do a little recruiting so we can share the wealth.

Speaking of wealth, I understand that upwards of 70% of inkjet cartridges and nearly half of laser toner cartridges end up in the landfill when they could be recycled. We're working on getting collections started in various places (especially our parish, where we have access to the largest number of potential donors).

If anyone has dealt with an ink jet/laser recycling company, I'd love to hear about your experiences. They all claim to pay postage, although a few want to reimburse rather than paying up front. I'm inclined to stay away from them. All suggestions welcome.

Second recycling effort: we've been invited to collect and recycle brass from a local gun club range. I've been told that it's worth upwards of $50/5 gallon bucket. I'm afraid to let the scouts help with that project - fear of live rounds as well as concerns about lead.

The reloaders take their brass home with them and we're welcome to the rest. It's currently all over the place. Plan is to put out buckets with signs asking people to toss just the brass, no trash, into the buckets. I still expect to have to pick up a fair amount of it. Again, comments welcome. I need to locate a local metal recycler who will accept the brass. Anyone with advice on how best to accomplish that please comment.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't hesitate to use a "brass barrel" if I knew it would help the local boy scouts. My son enjoyed many a year in the scouts. He went to Philmont and numerous Jamborees.
Make sure you identify the "brass barrels" as being a fund raiser for the local troop. I would like to think that lots of shooters wouldn't mind helping out. And make sure you consistently empty them! No need to have an almost full barrel gone "missing".
Oh and maybe even keep a running total of weight of the brass. I like numbers and I would be interested in knowing how much brass was being saved.
Our local indoor range has an annual lead clean up day. They usually get 10,000 to 11,000 lbs of lead out of the traps.
Hope this helps.

Steve

LoraLee said...

I collected ink and cell phones for the ferret rescue but never turned them in! We ended up instead donating them another shelter to help them out. According to them, they have collected in the past and never had a problem.

Judy said...

anonymous,
My husband has been a member of the rifle club for years, so the signs on the barrels will have his name as Scoutmaster, but definitely a good idea to keep the barrels emptied so they don't go missing.