Butte students celebrate Earth Day, collect 5,323 cans

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BUTTE — Over the past eight months, students in the recycling club at Butte Elementary School in the Mat-Su Valley spent part of their recess time collecting scrap paper and cardboard to be recycled at the Valley Community Recycling Solutions.

Nicknamed the “Recyclites,” members are Madison Fletcher, Sydney Hayes, Qale Staricha, Willow Vialpando, Aria Beames, Joshua Beer, Chris Murphy, Kaeson Dalrymple-Sorenson, Addie Hendrickson and Joshua Bevan.

Leading up to Earth Day, Janice Tanner helped students set a goal to collect 1,500 cans and keep them out of the landfill. The Recyclites began collecting cans from each classroom and quickly spread the word throughout the community.

By the end of the four-day “can-drive,” the Recyclites had collected 5,323 cans — almost 4,000 more cans than their goal, Tanner said.

When students were asked how they felt about collecting and counting so many cans they said, “It was fun to see so many cans, even if it was a lot of counting.”

Tanner agreed.

“It was a lot of work, but it’s good to know the cans won’t be sitting at the dump,” she said. “It feels great to help the community.”