Recycling Program

The Recycling Department is a prominent program offered in which students learn valuable skills in the recycling industry while serving their community. The recycling department serves approximately 75 students each year. On any given day, our Recycling students can be found throughout the County of Santa Clara serving over 400 recycling clients and recycling at over 170 special events.

On the collections team, students gain driving experience in our large-scale trucks. They learn the basics of completing a collection route while providing excellent customer service. This team also performs the pre-inspection of their vehicle before starting their route, as mandated by the Department of Transportation. Driver and helper teams learn to navigate routes, read maps, operate GPS equipment while working safely to achieve monthly zero accident awards.

Our Eco Academy team is the heart of our operation. In this team, students learn the basics of recycling through a13-unit course with core curriculum that includes recycling and environmental education classes, processing of recyclables, and forklift certification. This team is directly responsible for the processing of all incoming recyclable material via our conveyor system, built by our very own students. This team also conducts the recycling/waste management of SJCC facilities.

Our Special Events team members work at a variety of community events including those contracted for the City of San Jose such as the San Jose Jazz Festival and the Annual Cinco de Mayo Festival. Our team also services the annual Music in the Park concert series and a number of community events. Also notable in our portfolio are the San Jose Grand Prix and the Earthquakes’ games (formerly held at Spartan Stadium). An SJCC&CS Recycling team can also be found at almost every HP Pavilion event, including the San Jose Sharks games and various concerts. Last year alone, our team recycled at over 145 special events!

Our Recycling Interns can be found at Evergreen Valley College, San Jose City College and San Jose State University promoting recycling at their prospective colleges. These students are responsible for administering, servicing and the upkeep of the college recycling programs. They provide comprehensive services to their campuses while attending classes to further their own education.

For the 2009-10 year, the recycling department students performed over 35,000 hours of recycling in the collections and Eco Academy team. Special event students performed an additional 10,000 hours recycling in the community. Together we recycled over 320 tons of cans and bottles and an additional 335 tons of paper and cardboard.

The Recycling Department is funded by a grant from the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), in part by the California Governor’s Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention Initiative (Cal GRIP) and a special events grant from the City of San Jose.