A box of old CD-ROMS could be tossed. But because some environmentally conscious person dropped them off at Detroit鈥檚 Recycle Here center, a dozen Detroit youth transformed the would-be landfill waste into colorful suncatchers.
Splattering a disc with paint, Yaasameen Watkins, 12, was delighted to 鈥渉elp the environment鈥� and proudly shared that her mother recycles cans.
Fellow campers painting outside suggested other materials she could recycle.
鈥淧aper!鈥� shouted 9-year-old Aureianna Montgomery.
鈥淎luminum,鈥� added 8-year-old Brooklyn Jones.
Green Living Science鈥檚 free Earth Camp was accomplishing its goal to teach Detroiters, ages 8-13, about the three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle. Besides suncatchers, the kids spent a recent morning making paper from recycled scraps, pin wheels from file folder dividers and magnets from old computer keys.
Folding newspapers into a monster-shaped bookmark, Candace Montgomery, 13, underscored why it鈥檚 important to recycle.
鈥淲ith all the environmental problems we have now, instead of contributing to them, we can at least just help lessen it a little bit,鈥� she said.
The nonprofit聽Green Living Science and coalition聽Zero Waste Detroit have聽worked with the city, encouraging Detroiters to recycle since a pilot program launched in 2015. At the time, less than 10 percent of residents were recycling. As of June, 21 percent, or 44,381 residential households, have a recycling cart, either by purchasing it for $25 or receiving one for free at a Green Living Science or Zero Waste Detroit workshop.
An effective way to boost the recycle rate is to target kids, said Rachel Klegon, executive director of Green Living Science, which hosts school assemblies about the three Rs. If students fill out a recycling questionnaire with their parents, then bring it back to school, families can get a free recycling cart.
鈥淚 often hear parents say, they鈥檝e never thought about recycling, but their kid learned about it at school, and now they鈥檙e here (at Recycle Here) 鈥� kind of saying it complaining to me, but with a smile,鈥� Klegon said.
For the first time in 2014, city contracts required waste hauling services to offer curbside recycling for household residents (apartment dwellers were excluded). The opt-in service was a gamechanger for Green Living Science, which sometimes hesitated to do outreach at schools.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to teach kids that you should recycle, but you can鈥檛 do it because your family is unable to drive to Recycle Here,鈥� said Klegon, referencing the drop-off center established at 1331 Holden in 2005.
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