Camden Central School District -

Throughout the school year, the Camden High School Science Club has been taking steps toward a cleaner earth, and picking up awards while doing it. The club has received two major honors this year from the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority.

Most recently, the club placed first in the high school division of the Authority’s “Binny Mini” video contest. For the contest, the group was tasked with submitting a short video based on an environmental theme, to be judged against entries from across the region. Camden’s entry prevailed over two others from the Clinton Central School District to earn the top spot. The club’s award, a 250 dollar Amazon gift card, was presented to members by the Authority on Thursday, May 29th. That presentation included Binny, the Authority’s mascot.

Per their video: Did you know that 25 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in the United States?

Schools across the District also participate in the Authority’s Plastic Film Challenge, which the Science club led on behalf of Camden High School. The contest asks students and families to save a wide range of plastic film products, and send them to school so they can be collected and recycled. Plastic film is very common in packaging, and is very difficult to recycle as part of normal recycling streams. It can be sent away to make pellets that can be used to make a variety of products including bags, containers, crates, pipes, and even composite decking.

With the club’s guidance, Camden High School took first place in the High School division of this year’s challenge with 45 pounds of soft plastic collected and kept out of landfills.

The honors continue a great partnership between the District and the Solid Waste Authority. In the 2023-24 school year, the District received the Authority’s Recycling Champion award for its ongoing recycling and recycling education efforts.