Lynchburg Business

Waste Not, Want Not: Region 2000 Services Authority teaches area students the importance of conservation

Issue: August 2010 by Megan Norcross in Going Green, Inside The Magazine

An old Chinese Proverb says, “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” When we think back on the lessons we’ve learned, whether in adolescence or our adult years, most of what we’ve learned has been through experience—a bad break-up that taught us to know better, a business deal gone south that spoke to the importance of contracts or picking the quiet kid on the playground which helped us learn about friendship.

Whether you’re a seasoned scholar or fresh out of high school, the knowledge that follows experience is unparallel. Knowing this, the Region 2000 Services Authority has amped up their efforts to bring such a knowledge of waste reduction and recycling to area classrooms.

Diane Dodd, Recycling Program Manager for the Region 2000 Services Authority, acts as both teacher and enthusiast in the local classrooms that invite her to educate students about recycling, littering and waste reduction.

“I have different projects and programs depending on the age group,” Dodd explained with an edge of excitement in her voice. “For the younger kids, around kindergarten age, I give them different scenarios—like what if they were riding in a car with me and threw a gum wrapper out the window? What would happen to that wrapper? I then go into detail about how the wrapper would either get picked up by an animal, which could harm it or end up in a landfill. I also read books to them like “The Day the Trash Came Out to Play” by David Beadle.”

No matter the age, Dodd is willing to share her excitement and recycling tips. Even educating the elderly in senior facilities, Dodd’s goal is to increase knowledge and respect for our surroundings.

“It’s all about having fun,” Dodd said. “If they’re having fun, they’re learning more.”

Explaining the different method she uses when teaching middle school aged students, it is clear that Dodd loves what she does.

“Around 7^th grade, students begin studying landfills. Some of them have never visited a landfill, so I bring a PowerPoint full of pictures of landfills and we even have a little craft time,” she said. “We make an edible landfill in a clear, plastic cup full of Oreos (to represent the dirt), fruit roll-ups (to represent the landfill lining) and M&M’s (to represent the trash). It’s important for them to understand what goes into a landfill, even before the first piece of trash.”

Dodd explains all aspects of recycling, even down to how expensive it is to create a landfill, the effects of methane gas and what leachate and contamination is.

“Even the kindergarteners know what leachate is now!” Dodd mused.

For the rest of us who may not know, leachate is defined as“a solution resulting from leaching, as of soluble constituents from soil, landfill, etc., by downward percolating ground water,” by dictionary.com.

Dodd is careful to cover more than just recycling and landfills, however, as littering and waste reduction go hand-in-hand with it.

“Recycling and littering, they go together. If you don’t litter, most of the time you are recycling. If you do not recycle, you’re going to litter—whether it be in your yard or in a landfill. People need to know what happens to the litter and how many recyclables end up in landfills. There are better uses for land than putting trash in it,” Dodd said.

Closing out each session with the students, Dodd likes to host a giveaway with a recycled item as the prize. Even if the prize is a pencil made from blue jeans or currency that has been pulled from circulation, the purpose is to show students how many uses an item has.

“Most materials can be used over again,” she said. “We are an economy of convenience instead of conservation. We all know the three ‘R’s’—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—there is a reason ‘recycle’ is last. See where you can reuse a product yourself before you turn it into recycling.”

Once you have the mentality that recycling is the last resort, chances are you’ll find lots of creative ways to repurpose household items. Those mason jars that held pickles from your last cookout can become a vase for fresh flowers. Shirts you have outgrown can either be crafted into a new item of clothing or even a dust rag. No matter the item, repurposing can be a great learning experience for your children; one that gives you a greater appreciation for what you already have while giving your family a new creative outlet for what was once considered “trash.”