2023 Earth Day Scholarship Contest by The Junkluggers
Middle and high school students can win $1,000 for their greenest ideas.
Landfill waste reduction starts at home – and in school! The Junkluggers of Fairfield & Westchester Counties is thrilled to announce our participation in the 2023 CT Earth Day Scholarship Contest by The Junkluggers' Connecticut franchisees. The scholarship contest is open to all middle and high schoolers in Connecticut. In the spirit of community empowerment, we will select two winners based on their response to our burning question: In today’s world, we are always looking for ways to help save the planet and increase sustainability. Do you have a creative way for us to keep reusable items out of landfills?
Contest Rules
Two scholarships of $1,000 are up for grabs. One middle schooler and one high schooler will be chosen. Written entries can be up to 500 words, and video entries may be up to 2 minutes long. Students may submit their idea individually or in pairs. Students in grades 6-8 and 9-12 enrolled in Connecticut schools are eligible.
Submissions are due by April 21, 2023. Your school coordinator will gather contest entries and submit them to The Junkluggers by that date. Winners will be announced on May 1, 2023.
Looking for inspiration? Check your community!
To help you brainstorm for the contest, try and remember your own experience with landfills. Have you ever seen one? If not, look up some photos or videos to see how they operate. Consider what items are sent to landfills, where landfills are located, and how they impact the cities around them.
Do certain items catch your eye that could be disposed of differently? Or, maybe your solution has less to do with where the trash goes and is more about how we create waste in the first place. The possibilities are endless — you need to get started!
Landfill Fast Facts
In the United States, landfill data is based on models and estimations. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we don’t know precisely how landfills are in our country. As a result, we don’t know how much trash there is or how many of our landfills may be close to the total capacity. That is a problem.
This also means we don’t have exact data on how much methane our nation’s landfills produce. Methane is the infamous greenhouse gas known for speeding global warming– According to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), it has 80 times more warming power than carbon dioxide. That means we must reduce our contributions and be more mindful of waste management, starting with landfills.
