If members of the Osceola High School Air Force Junior ROTC Unit come to ask you for empty Amazon boxes, you can hand them over for a good cause.
Know that they will be recycled and you can help a student earn a $ 500 Amazon gift card.
It’s all part of the “Amazon Challenge” which runs through January 10 at OHS. The cadets who recycle the most boxes from the online merchant will win the cards.
To help the cause, Underground Refuse Systems, a Kissimmee-based company that is changing the landscape for waste disposal and recycled materials, donated a pair of its patented waste storage containers to the school. URS President Jay Wheeler unveiled the containers and announced the contest on Wednesday.
“The holidays are coming and Amazon will be delivering a lot,” Wheeler said. “We invited Amazon to come pick up their boxes. We’ll see if they come, because they have to start reusing their stuff. It will be a great time to learn about waste and recycling here at Osceola High School. “
ROTC Cadet Col. Giselle Rivera said it’s more about keeping the campus clean than making money – which doesn’t hurt.
“It will make things a lot easier, considering that we didn’t recycle here at all during my first year,” she said. “I know we waste a lot of paper in our classrooms and anything can come here. “
Lt. Col. David LaTour said this initiative can advance the Cadet “Green and Clean OHS” program.
“We originally took Clay Street and then the county got rid of the program. Now we can focus on campus while creating strong citizens of service to their community right here and transform OHS into Disney Springs. If it stays clean, more people will respect it.
These aren’t typical dumpsters, which Wheeler calls “a 1930s concept.” Sensors inside the bins alert when they are full and need to be unloaded, creating a route for the specially designed trucks serving them.
These two mobile units are part of the Underground Refuse Systems air container inventory. They are mobile, so the City of Kissimmee can move them to another location, on the site of a large event for example, and return them to OHS. URS is the sole North American distributor of this waste disposal technology.
URS underground units, which keep trash and recyclables in bins below street level that reduce unwanted odors and rodents, are popping up all over downtown Kissimmee and are also being installed in Clearwater, and Wheeler is in talks with other US cities to add the technology.