Hawaiian teen uses money from recycling to fund college scholarships

Where some people see trash, Genshu Price sees opportunity.

Price, 13, lives on Oahu, and is the founder of Bottles4College. Through the program, Price takes cans and bottles that he finds littering parks and beaches, recycles them, and puts the money aside for college scholarships. He started Bottles4College three years ago to raise money for his college fund, but decided he also wanted to boost other students in need of assistance.

"We're helping the environment by recycling," Price told The Associated Press. "We're helping education by providing scholarship funds for Hawaii kids and inspiring them to want to get a good education. And then you're bringing communities together."

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Price picks up his own cans and gets donations from individuals as well as collection boxes he has set up at different schools and businesses. He has been able to recycle more than 100,000 cans so far, and hopes to one day hit between 2 and 4 million cans and bottles annually, so he can raise enough money to pay for the full tuition of two students.

"We still have a little bit to go to get to the place where we want to be," Price told AP, "but it's definitely exciting. Every can counts, it's one can or bottle at a time."