Pleasant Hill students visit Cabot Recycling Center.
Each student brought an item from home to be recycled.
Pleasant Hill Elementary Kindergarten through 4th grade students visited the Cabot Recycling Center on Wednesday, April 20th.
The students listened to a representative from the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) talk about what litter is, where trash goes, and why recycling is important for the environment.
The students were able to ask questions and learned that if a glass jar is sent to the landfill instead of being recycled that it will never break down, it will live in the landfill forever. A plastic water bottle takes 100 to 400 years to break down; so it is much better to recycle the water bottle, or to wash and reuse more durable water bottles.
Recycling Center employee Craig Allison tells students how
long it takes a plastic jug to break down in a landfill
Shredded paper is bundled and ready
to ship to a larger recycling center
The students were able to tour the public room where recyclables can be dropped off by anyone in the community at any time of day. The students brought recyclables from home, and were able to find the bin where their recyclables go.
The students toured the back parts of the facility with the employees of the center, Josh Stough, Craig Allison and Kim Solomon. They saw how the recyclables are crushed with the baler and bundled into large squares or bricks, and stored until ready to be shipped to a larger recycling center.
All of the students received an activity booklet with more facts about recycling and a pencil made from recycled tires. However, the most important thing is that many students left with the hope to begin recycling at home with their families.
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