The key to saving extracurricular programs in Nevada's schools may be inside the office trash can.
Under a new initiative of America's Schools Program, with assistance from the Henderson Chamber of Commerce, local businesses are collecting used printer cartridges and old cell phones to raise money for the Nevada Association of School Boards, which oversees 17 local school boards across the state.
The nationwide recycling program started roughly four months ago and is now set up in an estimated 40 states. Local businesses collect cartridges and phones from employees, customers or both in special America's Schools Program bins. The program then sends the supplies to manufacturers for reimbursement funds, which are awarded to state school boards and in turn, distributes the funds to its local boards.
Nevada signed on with the program late last summer.
Don Baird, chief executive officer of the program, said about 700 companies nationwide currently participate in the program.
"This is all very new. We're hoping this will be earmarked for extracurricular activities, music, dance, the arts," he said. "It's new revenue that's off-budget dollars, being generated by consumers off-campus."
The program can collect as much as $9 for a cell phone, and with hundreds of different types of printers, some cartridges are worth up to $40.
More than 75 cents of every dollar raised from recycled items go to the schools.
Baird said printer cartridges alone are easily collected in a typical office environment.
"A normal staff of 30 to 35 people, they will fill one of these boxes up every three to four months," he said. "You don't realize how much you go through."
Locally Wells Fargo and Nevada State Bank are participating and will have donation boxes set up within the next couple weeks.
In June the Henderson Chamber of Commerce began supporting the program with a drop box of its own and is also working to sign on local businesses. Henderson establishments Coo Coo's Gourmet Coffee Cafe and the Rainbow Club & Casino are some of the businesses participating.
"What I like and what I get excited about is this is something that doesn't cost the businesses anything," said Alice Martz, chief executive officer of the chamber. "We're always needing money for schools, and the business community can be raising funds for programs where funding is being depleted."
Randy Robison, executive director of the Nevada Association of School Boards, said extracurricular programs such as art and drama are important for developing well-rounded students.
"Those types of programs some people don't think are core parts of the curriculum. There is a link to traditional academic courses tying into a different side of a student's learning capabilities," he said. "As I've experienced here, the programs that are continuously sort of on the edge are the extracurricular programs, music, arts, drama, so any extra bit of money helps tremendously."
Business interested in participating in the recycling program can visit the Henderson Chamber of Commerce Web site, www.hendersonchamber.com.
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