Hantsport student wins Region 5 RRFB category

By Brent Fox

The Hants Journal/NovaNewsNow.com

A Hantsport School student has won the District 5 Resource Recovery Fund Board (RRFB) Nova Scotia Recycles Contest for Grades-7-9.

Winners, runners-up, their families and school officials attended the Region 5 – Kings and Annapolis counties and Hantsport -- awards ceremony at Kingston, Thursday, Feb. 21. Province-wide, prizes valued at more than $40,000 were presented to students and schools.

Kellie Sanford achieved first place in the region for her magazine article. Kelsey Brydon of Central Kings and Justin Stoddard, NKEC, were runners-up in the category.

Sanford and Hantsport principal Sean Bennett were on hand to collect the prizes, which included $500 for their school.

Outside Hantsport, other Hants County students come under Region 6, with the South Shore.

At the Kingston event, RRFB CEO Bill Ring noted that “Nova Scotians clearly have a lot to celebrate.” The province is a leader in recycling, producing 50 per cent less garbage per capital than the Canadian average. One hundred per cent of Nova Scotia households have access to recycling, and 80 per cent are composting capable.

In recent years, the province has gone down from 100 dumps to seven second-generation landfill operations.

A new capability is the electronic recycling program, with 33 drop-off points across the province.

As well, the province is a world leader in recycling, with people coming from around the world to get information on how to establish or improve their own operations.

One of the successful programs is driven by thirst, Ring noted. This is the drink container return program. The program has recovered 268 million containers in the past year, and 2.6 billion since 1996.

There is also a Boomerang paint made from recycled paint.

As well, officials are seeking more possibilities for tire recycling.

But, Ring pointed out, one of the most important things the RRFB does is through education and awareness. And, he noted, “recycling waste saves us money and saves the environment. What’s not to like?”

The participants at the event were entertained, and educated, by Valley magician Al Bernard, whose magic act included a number of unique ways to recycle or make material disappear.