E-Cycle Drive Fills Semi

Rhetoric & Composition students host event

Jaci South
Ryn Petrowske helps to unload a vehicle at the e-cycle drive Oct. 6.

Hailey Asbury, Dual Credit English Student
October 6, 2018

The Chester High School Rhetoric & Composition class members were among over 40 juniors and senior volunteers, along with partners from CJD E-Cycling, who hosted an electronic recycling drive on Saturday, Oct. 6, in the parking lot of the high school.

This drive was used as a service learning project for the students and a way of picking up discarded electronics from the city and surrounding areas. The drive was open to the public for free disposal of most electronics; a fee was charged for some TVs.

The Chester High School Rhetoric & Composition class received a $950 Illinois Education Association SCORE grant to help fund the e-cycle drive held Oct. 6. Over a semi-truck of electronics was collected at the drive. Students completed the community service project as part of a writing assignment connected with the dual-credit course offered through Southwestern Illinois College. In the front (from left) are students Emma Draves, Sylena Martin, Kamryn Wingerter, Cara Childs, Stevie Gilbert and Carlee Weir. In the back is teacher Mike Springston.

Donations from the City of Chester and Randolph County, along with a grant from the Illinois Education Association, and a forklift provided by Gilster-Mary Lee, helped set the project in motion. A total of 120 cars were served during the three-hour drive; over 100 of those participants were citizens of Chester. Students surveyed participants on where they came from and how they heard about the drive during the unloading process and most heard from social media and local newspapers.

Randolph County Recycling Coordinator Mark North spoke to the Rhetoric & Composition class days before the drive to inform them on the process. Mr. North explained to the students that the Illinois state law expresses that every county has to provide a way to get rid of unused and unwanted E-waste. The drive was intended to be the safest and most legal way to dispose of common electronics. CJD E-Cycling follows all State of Illinois laws and regulations involving the disposing of electronic devices, and they are an EPA-approved collector.

North said plastic bags and styrofoam cannot be recycled, but almost everything else can be. Mark told students,

“On a good week I throw out only a Walmart bag full of trash because everything else gets recycled,” North said.

CHS’ English department teacher Mr. Springston exclaimed that this was one of the biggest, yet smoothest E-Cycle drives that the school has ever hosted. The drive ended with a full semi truck full of recycled material. The success of the drive already has the student body talking about another drive in the future, though CHS is not the only school or organization that hosts E-Cycle Drives in the surrounding area. For more information about future drives, visit www.cjdecycling.com or call 618-659-9006.