Jerusalem high school sets bottle recycling record

A special bottle recycling project headed by the ELA Recycling Cooperation, has seen Israeli schools nationwide collect 2.5 million bottles for recycling, Ynet learned. The project, which marked its eight year, offers the schools that collect the most bottles special grants for funding equipment purchases and other school activities. Some 2,500 schools nationwide took part in the latest round of "Recycling for a Goal" collecting bottles worth NIS 734,000 (roughly $200,000). Since the project was launched in 2005, schools in all sectors – secular, religious and Arab – have collected over 18 million bottles in 281 communities. This year, the Al-Rashidiya Secondary School in east Jerusalem topped the recycling list, collecting 83,000 bottles. ELA awarded the school with NIS 25,000 ($6,800). Second place went to Moshe Sharet High School in Holon, which collected 45,000 bottles and received a NIS 14,000 ($3,800) grant. Third place and a grant of NIS 11,500 ($3,200) went to Nuf Zurim High School on Zur Yigal. This year also saw ELA award its first Recycling Excellence Badge to three schools, chosen according to their recycling-per-student average. First place went to New Dvir School in Jerusalem, which is a special education facility that averaged the recycling of 600 bottles per student. Second place went to Nachshoney Hahula School in Yesod-Hamala, whose students averaged 140 bottles, and the Al-Rashidiya Secondary School won third place, with 100 bottles per-student. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter