SAN CLEMENTE : Students Lauded for Trash Barrel Project

City officials have honored some San Clemente High School students who assembled 17,399 trash barrels to raise money for campus activities and help the community start a recycling program.

Soon after approving the curbside recycling program this winter, city officials searched for a local labor force to assemble the plastic containers, which will be paid for and used by residents to hold recyclable materials, said Michael Morgan, the city’s solid waste coordinator.

It didn’t take long before city employees found the San Clemente Grad Night Committee.

Using donated space at the San Clemente Auto Park, students and parents with the committee and several other campus clubs and groups set up an assembly line in April and started putting the recycling containers together at 90 cents apiece, Morgan said.

After expenses, the students earned about $12,660, half of which will go toward the high school’s Grad Night party, Morgan said. The rest will be used by the individual clubs and groups for such things as athletic supplies.

“This way we got to put every penny back to the community,” Morgan said. “The money was literally recycled back into the community.”

At a ceremony Saturday honoring the students, city officials called the innovative fund-raiser a “win-win” for local government, educators, parents, business and the environment. As part of the city’s recycling contract, Roto Industries provided the container parts to the students for assembling.

In response to a state mandate, San Clemente recently joined a regional curbside recycling program with the cities of Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Niguel. Already, about 35% of the total waste generated in the cities is being diverted from local landfills for recycling, Morgan said.