ONTARIO—Snake River Correctional Institution has joined other correctional institutions across the state in a sustainability effort that is aimed at recycling and raising money for local charities. In the Chip Bag Brigade, inmates collect corn and potato chip bags from their kitchen, housing units and vending machine areas and turn them in to a company called Terracycle, which takes used packaging materials and recycles them into new products such as photo frames, park benches and backpacks. “We accumulate one point per chip bag if we send a box of at least 14 pounds. Each point earns 1 cent toward a charity of our choice, and the SRCI Sustainability Group chose the Harvest House Missions in Ontario for our first recipient,” project leader Kailee Evans said. “We have had a very positive experience and have been able to donate over $300 to Harvest House Missions so far. We have also collected over 500 pounds of chip bags that would normally go in a landfill.” Terracycle allows Snake River Correctional Institution to print UPS shipping labels at no cost to ship the chip bags to the company. “The program not only benefits sustainability efforts, which is awesome, but it helps raise money for charity. Our donation goes to the Harvest House,” said Cathleen Shroyer, a public information specialist with Snake River Correctional Institution. “As with most community outreach programs we are involved in, a big part of why we do it is the spirit of giving back. I used to say it’s important to find avenues for inmates to give back to the community as a way to help rehabilitate them and teach them the importance of doing things for others.” Shroyer said the community outreach efforts had been fairly successful. The emphasis has started to turn giving back into something that the people at the prison do. “It’s become a regular part of our lives,” Shroyer said. The project is organized by staff members, and inmates are responsible for the collection and packaging the shipments. To date, the inmates have collected 43,724 chip bags for a cash value of $418.79. That means $419.79 that will be donated to Harvest House Missions. Shroyer said the program — and others like it — benefit prison inmates and staff alike. “A majority of our inmate population has surpassed the learning stage of why doing things for the community is important, and they are really more focused on taking action with that knowledge,” Shroyer said. “Our staff are equally motivated to do things which are beneficial to our surrounding communities. Understanding how much of a positive affect you can have in a given area, even with a small contribution, is well worth going the extra mile to help anywhere we can.” Zachary Chastaine is a news reporter at The Argus Observer. He can be reached at (541) 823-4815 or by emailing zachc@argusobserver.com. To comment on this story, go to www.argusobserver.com.