ROTHBURY, MI -- Clean-up efforts in the aftermath of Electric Forest are getting a boost from three Montague High School sports team.

Montague girls basketball, varsity cheer and cross country teams sorted recyclables and picked up pre-collected trash bags Tuesday, June 30 at the Double JJ Ranch.

The groups assisted Gemini Production Solutions, a sustainable waste management company responsible for maintaining the festival for the past three years.

Their reward for the service: 2015-16 team uniforms bought and paid for by Gemini owner "Ranger" Rick Resener.

"I usually hire temporary labor, but this year I wanted to do more," Resener said. "Hiring the Montague teams helps them raise much more money than they usually get."

Resener got his nickname of "Ranger" during his time as a tumbling coach for the 1991 U.S. gymnastics team.

As a former coach, Resener knows how much work high school teams put into fundraising for equipment and uniforms -- and how often teams fall short of their goals.

The partnership helps Montague whittle down months worth of fundraising to two 6-hour days of work with guaranteed funding.

For the cheer team in particular, the uniform goal was $1,500. Karna Pastoor, Montague cheer's varsity sideline coach, said the team would be lucky if it collected $400 doing a car wash or a candy drive.

"There's always a 90 percent chance that we're not going to reach our goal," she said. "This helps, but makes us feel good, too. This is a generation that is really focused on reducing its impact on the environment."

Picking trash might seem grueling compared to a car wash on a hot day. That wasn't the case for the Montague teams.

"Most of the fundraising is done individually," cross country coach Terry Fick said. "This is more fun for them because they get to do this as a team."

Before Gemini provided waste services, cleanup at Electric Forest took nearly three weeks. The company knocked that down to anywhere between seven to 10 days, Resener said.

Gemini's association with High Five, a sustainable waste advocacy group from Grand Rapids, also expedites the effort. High Five offers incentives for festival goers to keep their surroundings clean.

Incentives include points that can be redeemed for festival merchandise or free tickets to next year's production, High Five co-founder Rachel Wells said.

High Five's Electric Forest campaign is called Electricology.

Resener appreciates any assistance he can get, and the feeling is mutual for Montague High School. To show their gratitude, the cheer team came up with a rallying call for Resener and Gemini.

"Ranger was pretty excited when he saw it; he even came up with one of his own," Pastoor said.

Ben Solis is an intern for MLive Muskegon Chronicle . Email him at bsolis@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter @bensolis1.