Getting a head start on recycling
?After donning orange earplugs and clear safety glasses Thursday morning, a group of 4- and 5-year-olds obediently marched into the Goodwill Industries’ recycling center in North Union Township to learn what happens to cans, boxes and newspapers that are sent to be recycled.
Gary Gibson, director of operations for Goodwill, led a group of Fayette County Head Start students from the North Union No. 2 Head Start classroom through the large, loud metal building where 6 million pounds of recyclables were sorted, baled and sold last year.
Gibson explained to the seemingly awestruck 14 children that recycling is simply “taking stuff and reusing it again.”
While inside, the children saw how the recyclable materials are sorted, sent up conveyor belts and made into large bales that are resold. Cans, boxes, plastic bottles, office paper, newspapers and milk jugs are sorted at the center and made into bales before they are shipped out to companies that recycle them.
The students watched as eight employees along a conveyor belt sorted the materials, making sure everything that was sent in can be recycled, tossing anything that can’t be reused into a garbage pile. Gibson said about 10 percent of the material received at the site ends up going to a landfill because it cannot be reused.
In different piles, massive bales of tin cans, office paper and milk jugs sat awaiting pickup. Gibson said the tin can squares weigh about 80 pounds each, while bales of paper and cardboard weigh between 800 and 1,000 pounds each.
Gibson said he has taken high school and college students on tours of the site, but hadn’t given a tour to children so young. However, he said that many times the younger children are when they learn about recycling, the more likely they are to do it.
Several of the children in the group raised their hands when they were asked if their parents have blue or red containers at home for recycling.
Sherry Schradel, classroom teacher, said the tour of the site was the finale for a lesson about recycling.
Schradel said the students also made collages from recycled materials and drew pictures of what they thought could be recycled. Also, blue and green handprints adorn a large picture made to look like the Earth.
Recycling manager Nelson Swaney said Goodwill makes curbside pickups once every month at municipalities throughout Fayette County. Anyone wishing to get a container should contact their local municipality.
Gibson said although the materials are sold on the open market, Goodwill, a nonprofit organization, doesn’t get a lot of money. The site employs 20 workers who are mentally challenged and 20 people who work as job coaches and managers.
Gibson said everyone makes no less than minimum wage.
For anyone wishing to set out recyclable materials for pickup, Gibson said cans and bottles can be put together, but paper materials must be separate.
The materials will be picked up if they are in garbage bags.
The materials, after they are sorted and baled, are shipped all over the United States. Gibson said Goodwill makes some money selling the materials, but also gets grant money from the county to keep the center running.
Twice a year “hard-to-recycle days are held, with one being planned for next month.
Gibson said recycling is very important for the environment, with Swaney adding that 40 people have jobs thanks to the recycling efforts of local people.
The recycling center, located on Romeo Lane past Romeo’s and 84 Lumber Co., is open from 8?a.m. to 4?p.m. weekdays, and accepts recyclables.
For more information, call the center at 724-437-9987.