Record recycling profits create scholarship opportunities

  • Published
  • By William Overstreet
  • 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  The Hurlburt Field Recycling Center has established two $1,000 scholarships for area high school seniors interested in environmental issues.

Under the Hurlburt Recycles for Education scholarship program, the center will award these scholarships for expenses at a college or university in Florida.

"For quite some time, we have been struggling to demonstrate that people who do not recycle are throwing money into the garbage," said Col. Mike Smietana, 1st Special Operations Mission Support Group commander. "This scholarship program is one of the best ways to demonstrate what recycling can do in and for our own community. Rather than parents reaching into their pockets to help support a child in school, all they have to do is understand what can be recycled and then put this material in the right place or receptacle."

The recycling center developed the scholarship program in March to encourage Earth-friendly living and to get high school students involved in protecting the environment.

"The recycling program is so successful it would be a real shame not to return funds to the community in this way," said Norman Ben-Maor, 1st Special Operations Services Squadron. "Funding for the scholarship program comes entirely from the sale of recycled materials collected on Hurlburt Field."

From January to March of this year, Hurlburt recycled more than 970,000 pounds of materials at an earned income of more than $371,000. In addition to funding the new scholarship program, these funds are also used to pay for many other base activities.

To apply, students must meet eligibility criteria and submit a proposal outlining a waste reduction or recycling project in their school or community to be implemented during the year of application. High school seniors attending an accredited school in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties are eligible to apply for this scholarship.

Applications outline the award criteria, so all applicants should be as thorough as possible when filling out the award packages. The deadline for submitting application packages is May 15, and applicants may e-mail, fax or mail in their applications.

Hurlburt Recycles for Education scholarship application