Recycling Services

Teens on Call Maui has collaborated with the Department of Education(through subcontractor Quality Behavioral Outcomes - QBO) to conduct a successful work training experiment through recycling for high-functioning Autistic students. At-risk students are referred to TOC by high school counselors, Family Court, AmeriCorps, and parents in distress. The concentration involved in the sorting of recyclables has proven to improve the students' cognitive and motor skills, as well as improving self-esteem & developing self-discipline.

In August 2007, Teens On Call set up a program to recycle the abundance of excess items left over from the tourist industry. Each year over two million visitors come to vacation on Maui. They buy what they need, and then depart having to leave much of it behind. Weekly TOC workers pick up the "trash" and bring it to the Paia Campus to be sorted, cleaned, & re-distributed...

• Students drain Hi-5 bottles & cans, sort empties into bags, then transport them to redemption centers, & return them for cash.
• Full bottles of water & soda, & useful items, are cleaned off and distributed to non-profits such as: Habitat for Humanity home building crews; Women Helping Women Shelter; Aloha House; Family Life Center Homeless Feeding Program (300 weekly); a canoe club, and two youth centers.
• Workers earn a $10 per hour educational stipend along with lunch & take-home items. TOC work crews get drinks for their daily coolers.

It is a 5-way win... the County benefits by having on average 240,000 lbs of recyclables per year diverted from the landfill, non-profits get free items they need, workers and students get free supplies & work-training, and Teens On Call uses the redemption money to pay the student stipends.

This program is the perfect model for Reduce - Re Use - Recycle.

After sorting out recyclables from opala, pack rubbish into dumpster. Learning to "get down & dirty" to get the job done... for good $ too!