Eisenhower Middle School sixth-grader Erek Hansen, known as “EcoErek,” received an Environmental Achievement Award in the Youth & Education category at the Ohio Environmental Council’s annual Green Gala in Columbus Saturday evening Oct. 22 in front of a full crowd of 400 attendees.

Erek, 11, was nominated for being a recycling crusader. Press readers will recognize him an activist in collecting denim and shoes through drives he holds across the area and the state of Ohio.

Erek Hansen and Keith Dimoff, Executive Director, Ohio Environmental Council. (Photo by Amy Hansen)

The denim is ultimately remanufactured into housing insulation that is donated back to communities that have been struck by natural disasters (www.CottonFromBlueToGreen.org). The shoes are sent to USAgain (pronounced use-again) and good-condition shoes are re-directed to those who need them, and shoes in poor condition are ground to make raw material for sidewalks, running tracks, carpet underlayment and playground mulch (www.usagain.com).

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