The Jamaican Association on Intellectual Disabilities (JAID) will be starting the New Year on the right foot as the recipient of $100,000 from the Digicel Jamaica Foundation's Phone Recycling Programme.

The organisation was rewarded for collecting the most used phones under the programme, which is a part of Digicel's Go Green initiative and which was launched last June through a partnership with SwapKit Ireland.

The collaboration resulted in used phones being exchanged for educational packs, which include iPads with special protective cases and other accessories that cater to special-needs children. By December, more than 1,800 used phones were collected

Recycling bins were placed at 13 special-needs institutions across the island. JAID collected 708 used phones and the STEP Centre collected the second highest - 463 used phones. For its efforts, JAID will also receive three tablets, while the STEP Centre will get one tablet.

The front-runner had placed recycling bins at four of its institutions, according to Christine Rodriguez, JAID's Executive Director.

"Our Windsor School of Special Needs collected the most," she said. "It really was a great idea and a lovely project to work on and we hope it continues. I know that our school will be putting our reward to good use."

special needs sector

The programme was geared at supporting education in the special-needs sector, according to Judine Hunter, special needs programme manager at the Digicel Jamaica Foundation.

"This is our first time implementing such a programme and we received positive responses from our participating special needs partners," she said. "We hope that this will spread the message that our young students have a responsibility for the well-being and preservation of our environment."