By Juan Soto
Growing up as a kid in Jamaica in the 1980s, chemistry professor Kwesi Amoa collected cans and plastic bottles to buy clothes for the next school year.
It was his father, Amoa explained, who “initiated the spark” for making some money and cleaning up the environment. His dad, a retired bus driver, also collected cans to supplement the family’s income, he said.
Decades later, the faculty member at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn is resurrecting the idea but with a different goal.
Amoa wants to raise funds through a can and bottle collection initiative to support a scholarship program for southeast Queens C-average senior high school students.
“As a college professor, I constantly see good students not having enough money to pay for their college education,” Amoa said. “Recycling is a great way to financially support a person going to college and help the environment at the same time.”
Although the ultimate plan is to raise as much as $100,000, a more modest goal will be to collect as much as $7,000 before the end of fiscal year 2014.
The Recycle for Education program, as a redemption center, will get 3.5 cents for every bottle or plastic bottle they turn in under the 1982 New York State Bottle Bill.
People who bring cans and bottles into the Recycle for Education Center, at 200-07 Murdock Ave. in St. Albans, can either get paid 5 cents per can or donate the containers for the program.
Amoa pointed out that New Yorkers threw away more than $110 million of 5-cent plastic bottles and cans in the last year, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance.
“There is an incredible amount … [of] funding on unclaimed bottles and cans,” the chemistry professor said.
State Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-Jamaica) supports the idea because it helps young people and it keeps the environment clean.
“It is a shame that so much money is being unclaimed,” said Scarborough. “It is an excellent idea, and we must get the word out about this wonderful program.”
Last Saturday, Scarborough, Amoa, community leaders and kids held an event at Roy Wilkins Park to kick off the initiative.
“I want to see this initiative succeed,” the assemblyman added.
The promoters for Recycle for Education are close to working out a deal with the rental car company Enterprise to have the business collect cans and bottles at its 26 offices in the region.
“We are trying to set up a pickup schedule,” the chemistry professor said. “This way he bottles and cans they collect when they clean up their cars will go towards the scholarship program.”
The idea of providing tuition assistance for C-average high school seniors evolved, Amoa said, because there are “plenty of funding opportunities” for A and B students.
But the C-average is just a start. Students will have to hit the books harder than in high school.
“The students have to show improvements after every semester in college,” he said. “This way hey begin with a C and they end up with an A.”
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
