Orlando student wins President’s Environmental Youth Award for e-waste organization

The White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized he electronics recycling efforts of Kady M., from Orlando, Florida, with a President’s Environmental Youth Award.

Kady responded to the growing environmental challenge of electronic waste, which is the fastest-growing segment of landfill volume, by creating a nonprofit corporation to recycle used electronics and prevent them from ending up in landfills. Through her organization, eTreasury, Kady works to keep electronic waste out of the environment and use resources wisely and efficiently. eTreasure runs electronic collection drives, allowing people to discard unwanted cell phones, tablets and computers. The organization then clears the devices, and refurbishes them where necessary, before distributing them to local community members and institutions like students, schools and soldiers, who might not otherwise be able to access them.

Kady’s efforts to both address electronic waste and serve her community made her an ideal candidate for the President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA), which honors K-12 students who demonstrate outstanding environmental stewardship. She received her award at a recent ceremony at the White House, along with the 62 other PEYA recipients for 2015. The ceremony also recognized 18 teachers who won the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education.