Editor's note: The following essays are among the winners of Residential Recycling Awards, presented last week as part of the second annual Sunnyvale Environmental Awards. The Department of Public Works' Solid Waste Division bestowed Residential Recycling Awards on eight individuals and two families who wrote essays about how they recycle. Many writers, including Ponderosa School students Colleen Lynch and Erica Preiman, shared innovative ideas about how to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Colleen Lynch: In my house, we recycle. It is a good way not to waste things. We recycle newspapers, cans, plastic and glass. My mom sorts everything into the right bins before we use the curbside recycling program that Sunnyvale provides.
We also recycle things we can reuse. We use both sides of paper. We reuse plastic containers that we can't recycle to keep leftovers in. We hand down toys and clothes. Clothes we can't hand down, we use for rags. My parents get their shoes resoled if they are in good enough shape to still be worn. Once I melted little crayon stubs into one multicolored crayon.
My dad fixes things before we replace them. He says it's better to fix stuff because that way, it doesn't go into a landfill.
We all need to do our part to recycle and reuse things because we are running out of places to put the garbage. We are doing our part in recycling, and I think everyone else should, too!
Erica Preiman: At my house, we recycle a lot. First of all, we recycle toys. This sounds weird, but not to me. I go into my room and get all the toys I don't want or if they're old. Then we give them to friends, relatives or the Goodwill.
Second, we also recycle cans. We drink so much soda that we get a lot of cans. We also recycle newspaper, but we don't recycle regular paper.
Finally, we also do something in the classroom to recycle. We have a worm bin, and we feed the worms leftover food, fruits and vegetables.
I told you, I recycle a lot!
Yolande Kersey: I live in a small condo, and there is no space to accumulate anything indoors. My garage is small and is located half a block from my townhouse unit. This leaves the outdoor service patio as a place for recycling.
The recycling bins provided by the city are attractive, but they are not intended to be kept outdoors. When it rains, newspapers get wet, cans rust and glass containers collect water. Also, the bins are not very attractive when they're full of recycling materials.
I solved this problem by cutting a piece of opaque heavy plastic, folding over the ends to form loops using my kitchen Seal-A-Meal, placing a dowel in each loop and draping the whole thing over my three recycling bins. Voilà! They are hidden and protected from the elements, and my tiny kitchen is free of stuff.
An artistic type could decorate the bin cover with attractive designs and really make it a plus.
The Persin Family: In March 1994, we bought a business that appealed to us for many reasons: We sell commodities to the federal government, which allows Jeff to do what he enjoys most--purchasing and negotiating--and affords Barbara the opportunity to be involved in Jason's school and various other activities. It has truly become a family business.
We have since expanded the business to include a warehouse, where we do some shipping and receiving. About six months ago, Jason--not yet 8 years old at the time--had a brainstorm when he was opening a package from one of our vendors. He was well aware that we were spending money on Styrofoam packaging material, and he suggested that we shred our unneeded paper and use it for packing material. Needless to say, we took our son up on his great recycling idea.
William Reid: My recycling habits include saving all aluminum cans so that I can get cash (usually for a haircut). All tins, paper and plastic bottles I leave out for the curbside recycling.
I recycle compost in our garden and get excellent tomatoes and artichokes. Compost, along with rabbit doo-doo, makes for excellent fertilizer (at least according to my wife Angela, who is the gardener in our family).
Being part Cherokee, Angela also makes crafts for Cranberry Hill Craft Store out of recycled materials. She follows the old Indian ways and wastes nothing. In making "dream-catchers," she uses wood scraps, bark, feathers, bone and leather. Our daughter , Hillary, is the best at making the webs for the dream-catchers.
Cycling has always been my forte, so perhaps recycling is born of that.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 24, 1996.
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