Trash Talk Meant To Educate Kids Recycling Representative Hopes Children Will Influence Adults’ Habits

Jim Haynes didn’t mind talking a little trash to some Spokane kids last week. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he’s bigger than they are, either.

“If they learn here, they take that home,” Haynes said.

Don’t be alarmed. He wasn’t making disparaging remarks about the kids. Haynes’ trash talk was about recycling.

A representative of recycler Pacific Materials Exchange in Spokane, Haynes spoke last week to a group of Shiloh Hills Elementary School students about helping to reduce waste by recycling.

Haynes rummaged through a garbage Dumpster despite the flies and bees that also hung around the trash to show kids there were probably items thrown away that shouldn’t have been.

Haynes pulled out cardboard, aluminum and paper, and told the kids that the stuff should have been recycled.

“Can you recycle paper if it’s been used?” asked one girl from the second-grade class that watched Haynes.

“What if the paper has crayon on it?” asked another.

“Why are you reaching in the garbage?” someone asked.

Said Haynes: “Yes. Yes. And to show you that, there are things in here you shouldn’t throw away.”

For two weeks, the kids had been studying school waste. Part of the study focused on which was more cost effective for the school - disposable cafeteria products like dishes and silverware or washable products. The other was to identify ways students can increase the amount of classroom material being recycled.

The study was part of an on-going conservation partnership between the Mead School District and Washington Water Power.

Dean Lueck, WWP’s resource conservation manager said the study provides a hands-on opportunity for students to learn more about conservation.

Students researched the initial costs and depreciation for trays and silverware, plus the costs of water, sewer, heating, soap, rinsing agent and labor involved in washing, Lueck said.

Then they researched purchasing costs of disposable products, warehouse and delivery charges, disposal and solid waste charges, and the reduction in labor costs.

Early results seem to indicate that using disposable products is twice as expensive.

Shiloh Hills intern principal, Brent Perdue, said the school is in its third year of recycling paper products, aluminum and tin.

“We’ve been able to reduce the number of Dumpster pickups, which has been a real savings for the school,” Perdue said.

“We hope this study will educate students even more on how to reduce waste at school and at their homes. Hopefully our study will provide useful information for other schools that may help them recycle more and reduce their solid waste,” he said.

Through the Resource Conservation Manager program, WWP has worked with the Mead School District on ways to operate school buildings more efficiently, and to reduce energy and natural resource consumption.

Haynes said he hopes to get through to adults by reaching their kids.

“Sometimes I get the impression from adults that recycle is still a dirty word,” Haynes said. “But when your child asks you, ‘What are you doing for the Earth?,’ well, it becomes a little bit harder to put off.”

Haynes said he gives Spokane County a B-plus grade for its recycling efforts. According to the Spokane Regional Solid Waste System, Spokane County generates nearly 1,400 tons of waste everyday. About 42 percent of that waste is recycled.

Since the Mead District and WWP got involved in the recycle program in January of 1995, district officials estimate they have saved $180,000.

“It’s an awareness that we all have to have,” Haynes said. “This is where a lot of it starts. With the young people.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo