Bio-Lancasttf Ftnrtng, Saturday, Saplambar 23,1995
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Children
CREAMERY (Montgomery
Co.) Young visitors to the
Recycling Education Program’s
booth at the recent Montgomery
County 4-H Fair were asked for a
definition of compost, what it
smells like, and how it is made.
Their answers were descriptive,
accurate, and to the point.
When asked what compost
smells like, the answers ranged
from “it smells like my grand
mother’s woods,” “like insects,”
“flowers and oranges,” “nature of
the world,” to “soil, but sweet.”
Emily, age 6, disagreed. She
thought it smel'ed yucky.
Look at the picture below. It's a landfill where trash is buried. Most of your
trash will end up in this pile. There ate about 6000 landfills in the United
States to hold all the trash.
Why is there so much trash? One reason is because we buy things that use
too much packaging made from paper, cardboard, plastic and polystyrene
foam - styrofoam. Things look so good on the shelf; we have trouble resisting
them.
Color the things that you think can be saved from the trash pile.
Reduce
Here's a game you can play in your home.
There are four squares below with the numbers 1,2,3 or 4in them. Each number
stands for the number of layers of packaging used foranitem. For example, cereal
uses cardboard and a bag so it goes in the #2 box. Look at the list of items (under
the boxes) and try to put them in the right box.
milk juice packs bread fruit crayons pack of gum
cereal music tapes video cassette games
lb check your answers, find these items around your house or check the answer key in the
back. Most of these items used ttfo or mote layers. Some layers are there to protect the
item. Some layers are there to make the product look good. If fewer layers were used,
people would have less to throw away. You should try to decide what is needed to protect
an item and what is there for looks.
Look at the list of products in the activity above. Some things are packaged different ways
by different makers. For example, fruit is sometimes available in bulk in large bins and
other times it is found prepackaged in plastic or paper trays. Certain cereals sometimes also
have an outer plastic wrapping. Cereal variety packs also have an outer wrap and lots of
cardboard and paper for a small amount of cereal. Look around the next time you go to
the store and you'll see many examples of the same type of product packaged in different
ways. An E.S. looks to buy only those items that have the least packaging. Buy, and
encourage others to buy, the things that have the least packaging. REJECT unnecessary
packaging.
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Take Compost Quiz
Thomas at age 10 must be a vet
eran compos ter. Asked what is
compost, he replied, “Compost is
leaves, grass and other natural
items mixed together to form soil
for plants to gro\v in.” Catherine
describes compost as “old things
that people don’t want anymore so
they recycle,” while Ford, age 6,
was right to the point. He said it
means “something is rotten,” and
Christine said it was “leftover
food.”
The children certainly know
how to compost. Katie, 11,
instructs us to “put dirt in a pile
with potato peels, grass, leaves,
other things that can be decom-
Reject
posed. Wait for 8-9 months, may
be more, and you will have com
post for your garden.” Christina,
6, is more direct: ‘Throw it in a
pile, then it breaks down.” Aaron.
9, wants us to “grind up dirt, trees,
I think.”
Promotion of backyard com
posting for all age groups is one of
the goals of the Recycling Educa
tion Program. If the many children
who took a few minutes to answer
the compost questions are any
indication, their generation is on
the right rack towards environ
mental awareness and good recy
cling practices.
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or*ie
Have you thought about your trash lately?
Most people don't think about
where trash comes from or
where it goes. Did you know
that every person creates about
four pounds of trash each day?
In one week that is nearly thirty
five pounds - the weight of a
very fat turkey. If you imagine
all die people you know, that is
a lot of turkeys!
More than half of the things that get thrown away can be saved, reused or
made into new things. The Environmental Shopper does not create four
pounds of trash a day, because he or she knows what to buy and what not to
buy. The best way to get rid of all those turkeys is to start with yourself.
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