THIS EARTH MONTH, HELP A SUDBURY LUNCH LADY WIN
CANADA-WIDE RECYCLING CONTEST; $3,000 WOULD GO TO SLEDGE
HOCKEY TEAM AND SICK KIDS IN LATE SON’S MEMORY
April 2, 2015: Diane Davis’s son passed away four years ago and the Val Caron resident has been working hard ever since to honour his memory — helping the planet while donating to his favourite causes April 2, 2015: Diane Davis, a lunch lady at École Jean Paul II in Val Caron, lost her son Joel to a heart and lung condition four years ago — ever since, she has been honouring his memory by raising money for the organizations that helped him (SickKids Foundation, Starlight Children’s Foundation) along with sports teams he loved (such as the Northern Sliders Sledge Hockey team in Garson, Ont.). But she doesn’t simply call around asking for donations; instead, she asks for people’s trash.
Davis collects various forms of packaging waste for TerraCycle Canada, an independent recycllng agency specializing in diverting from landfill what municipalities deem “non-recyclable” – items such as cookie and cracker wrappers, drink pouches, and home cleaning packaging. For each item she sends to TerraCycle, she earns two cents, which can be put toward the school or charity of her choice. To date, Davis has earned a total of 146,965 points (or $1,469).
This month, she is participating in the Febreze Frenzy Contest, which is helping to promote TerraCycle’s new Air and Home Care Brigade – this enables any brand of home cleaning packaging waste to be recycled for the first time. Anyone in Canada can join and compete to win a $3,000 prize or one of two $1,000 sweepstakes.
Plastic air fresheners and the packaging they come in, trigger heads, screw caps from bathroom and kitchen cleaners, used packs of disposable cleaning wipes and so forth are technically recyclable, however, the high cost of recycling these mixed plastics means the infrastructure to do so simply isn’t available across the country. This prompted Febreze and TerraCycle to join together to launch the Air and Home Care Brigade, a free recycling and fundraising initiative.
The contest runs until April 30, 2015; it’s the biggest in TerraCycle Canada's history.
If Davis wins, the $3,000 prize money will go toward a donation to SickKids’ cardiac ward as well as to Starlight Canada. “This helps the planet, it helps charities, and it doesn’t cost a thing,” says Davis. The support of the greater Sudbury community can truly help boost the amount waste diverted from landfill and the amount of money raised for the charities Davis supports. To help her in these recycling and fundraising efforts, start collecting all of your used plastic air fresheners and plug-in refills, air and home care trigger heads, pumps and caps and flexible home cleaning wipe packs of any brand; then, before the end of April, drop them off at École Jean Paul II from Monday to Friday, anytime — a bin will be located outside for easy access.
The site for the Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
The Sudbury working-group of The Media Co-op was formed to create independent media in the North, to speak to our issues and outlooks on our communities as well as the world around us. Independent media provides an avenue for people who are wishing to gain critical perspective on the issues that matter most to us, and to give a voice to those people and stories that you won't find in the mainstream media.
The Sudbury working-group site is no longer being updated and has been archived.