Poland school wins award for recycling

The contest pitted Poland against Canfield, their rivals to the west.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Second-graders Nick Sabrin and Kaitlyn Battaglia had a secret weapon in their quest to collect aluminum cans for recycling: grandparents.

Their efforts and those of their fellow pupils at North Elementary paid off. The school received a plaque and a $5,000 check Friday from Novelis, an aluminum company with offices in Cleveland; the U.S. Conference of Mayors; and Keep America Beautiful’s Cash for Cans contest.

The award recognized the creative ways the pupils, their families, school faculty and staff collected cans for recycling.

To make the contest interesting, Poland and Canfield competed to see who could collect the most cans. Poland won.

“When I knew we were competing against Canfield, I was telling my grandpa,” Nick, 8, explained. “He told me that my great-grandma has a lot of aluminum cans in the garage.”

Boy, did she.

Nick’s family had to use a dump truck to transport all of the cans to the school, he said.

“She just kept them in her garage over the years and she drinks pop a lot,” Nick said.

Kaitlyn, 7, relied on help from her grandma, too.

“I asked my grandma to save cans and one day she told me she brought three trash bags [full of cans] to school,” she said.

Principal Mike Masucci said the school also set up a large trash receptacle at the high school stadium leading up to the football matchup last fall between Poland and Canfield.

“We said we wanted to beat Canfield both on and off the football field,” he said.

The on-the-football-field part didn’t work out so well.

Pupils also used aluminum cans to write “Poland Recycles” in the school courtyard.

Peg Flynn of the Recycling Division of Mahoning County, or the Green Team, dressed in recyclables for last week’s presentation. Her top was covered in pop tabs with crushed cans affixed to her skirt.

“Every can that goes for recycling goes to a factory, it’s melted down and within two months it’s back on the shelf,” Flynn said.

Village Mayor Tim Sicafuse told the pupils he’s proud of them.

“Anything we can give back to the environment is really going to help us,” he said.

Masucci said the money will be used to further the school’s recycling and environmental programs. The school’s greenhouse will receive much of those efforts. Each year, the school works with Zellers Greenhouse in Rootstown to get plants for the pupils to tend inside the greenhouse.

Nick and Kaitlyn are learning about the importance of recycling at school.

“You don’t throw away cans, you recycle them and you help the environment,” Nick explained.

Fourth-graders Mariah Mrofchak, 9, and Anthony Calcagni, 10, learn about recycling’s significance in their science class.

“Just about everything can be recycled,” Anthony said.

“It’s good for the environment,” Mariah added.