Recycling Awareness

I learned a lot and doing these activities about recycling. This project really opened my eyes to the crucial importance of recycling. I learned of many places in my city where I can go recycle specific things such as batteries and electronics. I was not aware of these places before starting these recycling activities. My knowledge of recycling was expanded.

At home I do recycle by separating the plastics from aluminums and paper and cardboard. But I haven't really ever recycled electronics and big stuff because I just didn't know where to go. I also donate my clothes to the salvation army and the goodwill stores in my city. Now that I am more aware about recycling, I am going to make sure that my family recycles properly.

My school has started to be more aware on recycling. Our leadership students educate people on the importance of recycling. Recycling bins for plastics and papers have been placed in each classroom to enforce the practice of recycling at our school. Our goal is to recycle more and to keep our school looking clean and decent.

For more information on recycling, please go to this website: http://www.stopwaste.org

Davis Street Transfer Center

The Davis Street Transfer Center is a waste treatment facility that serves 20 Bay Area cities. The facilities goal is to divert 75% of municipal trash away from landfills and into recyclable materials. This facility practices some of the 4 R's which are very important to our planet. The purpose of the facility is to recycle, reuse and reduce. By doing this, they are protecting the health of the residents. By recycling, reusing and reducing materials they reduce the amount of solid waste and reduce the making of new materials. Landfills are carefully designed to prevent waste from mixing with groundwater and to reduce odors. Most landfills have a thick plastic liner between the ground and the trash, and a layer of soil is added every day to cover up the trash on top. Materials deposited in a landfill do not decompose quickly.

• Recycle plastics and bottles

• Recycle wood into garden mulch which fertilizes the ground

• Process yard trimmings for compost

• Recycle e-waste: old computers, electronic equipment and cell phones

Composting at THS Farm

Composting

Making a compost pile is fast , easy, and effective. The benefit of a compost pile is that it helps your organic plants grow good in rich fertilizer.

Waste Audit

Classroom Trash

Students gathered trash from each classroom and collected it into one bag. The items in the trash varied from paper, food and even plastics.

Weighing the bag

The trash that was collected from classrooms on campus were then weighed. The bags were heavy and did contain a lot of trash.

Dumping Trash on Tarp

The trash was then dumped on to the tarp and spread out across the tarp where we would later dig in.

Sorting the Trash

We then had to dig in the garbage and sort them into different piles. We had different categories which were food, paper, food , plastic and other random things.

Weighing the Piles

Litter Survey

As a class we did an experiment on littering on our campus. A group of student went out to take pictures of areas such as hallways, grassy pathways and quad BEFORE lunch. The areas were very clean and clear of litter, all grassy parts looked pleasant. Then AFTER lunch, another group went out to take pictures after lunch to take the pictures and they weren't so pleasant. Trash was EVERYWHERE! Especially in the quad where the majority of students sit to eat. Students are being really messy leaving their lunch containers and wrappers behind leaving the janitors clean up after them. The pictures showed hallways infested with litter, plastic bottles, food wrappers, and food containers with food spilled out. It really bugs me that people can't be clean and don't really care about the well being of our campus. I mean, if people can't do something as simple as throwing their trash in the garbage I feel sorry for them. We spend the majority of our life in school, the majority of hours a day at school so it's like our second "home away from home".That's why I think we should make it and keep it a really pleasant place to be.

Using The 4 R's At Home

I incorporate the 4 R's in my daily life. At home, my family and I recycle plastic bottles, cans, glass and other recyclable materials. We separate them into bins. Sometimes we reuse materials or even buy stuff that has been used before. For example, the other day I told my dad i wanted a book shelf and that I wouldn't mind getting it at a thrift store. The following day I came home to find a bookshelf/desk, a TWO IN ONE! My dad had bought it at the thrift store and it was in very good condition like new! I really like it and goes perfectly in my room. This saved us money and it is an example reusing materials. At home we also have a large bin where we put scraps of plants and weeds, this is an example of rotting. We also try to reduce the use of materials that can be reduced. For example when going to the grocery store you can take reusable grocery bags that are not made of plastic instead of using a lot of plastic bags every time you go food shopping. By using the 4 R's I feel like I'm contributing to the Earth which gives us so much beautiful things that we must appreciate and preserve.

Going Green!

A new program has been introduced to our school Tennyson High School. This new program is called SLWRP and it stands for Service Learning Waste Reduction Program. I along with my Community Multimedia Academy classmates will be involved in service learning activities on our campus to promote the importance of recycling. In these activities we will be incorporating the 4 r's which are Recycle Reuse Rot and Reduce. By using these methods I hope to do my part in helping our earth be a better place to live.