THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606120108
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 48 lines
The five members of Boy Scout Troop 460 collected 2,518 pounds of aluminum cans over the past year.
The recycling-friendly world thanks them.
So does their Scout Hut.
The troop was recently awarded $200 for their efforts, which proved greater than similar recycling drives by troops throughout the state in a contest sponsored by the Reynolds Co., of Reynold's Wrap fame.
John T. McReynolds, the troop's scoutmaster, said the money would go toward refurbishing their hut, a 20-by-50-foot building off Bainbridge Road.
``It's going into our building,'' said McReynolds. ``We're in the process of refurbishing the hut, doing some painting, putting up wall board . . . fixing the bathrooms.''
The hut occupies a plot of land on property donated to the troop by Portlock United Methodist Church, McReynolds said. The 58-year-old troop leader, a draftsman and architecture teacher, designed the structure himself two decades ago so his troop could have a home base.
A dedicated Scout volunteer of 36 years, McReynolds is an Eagle Scout and father to a pair of Troop 460 alumni. He and his initial troop funded the hut two decades ago through donations and ``by selling anything you can imagine.''
This incarnation of Troop 460 has been involved in recycling for three years, harvesting close to 7,000 pounds, including the contest-driven catch.
McReynolds said the Reynolds Co. kept score by figuring that a pound of aluminum breaks down into about 30 cans.
For the contest, the boys of 460 collected about 75,540 cans.
The Scouts collected empties from Oscar F. Smith High School recycling bins. McReynolds teaches at the school, and most of the boys attend class there.
``They brought them from home; they picked them up in the street. . . . They got them everywhere,'' McReynolds said.
Steven L. Sole, a 16-year-old patrol leader for the troop, recalled many a Scout meeting at the hut that began with crushing and bagging cans.
``Sometimes we'd get backed up on the cans,'' said Scout Michael W. Nothnagel, 15. The troop frequently stored the aluminum in a smaller storage shed near the hut until weekly drives to a recycling center.
Though the troop didn't become involved with the contest until August, whereas other troops had been collecting since May, 460 kept at it. To add to their underdog status, many of the troops had dozens more boys compared to 460's handful.
``We may be small now,'' said McReynolds, ``but we never slow down.'' by CNB