Trash Treasures

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Teaching the Importance of Waste Diversion

Dee Dee Green, Recycling Coordinator, discusses Escambia County, FLs Recycling SummeR youth camp.

Give a brief history of the proGram: in an effort to find new and exciting ways of reaching our youth, the Escambia County Recycling Summer Camp was created in the Summer of 2009. The recycling camp is a free program offered to area youth ages six to 12. The camp is a one-day excursion to the Escambia County Perdido Landfill where kids participate in funfilled activities designed to teach the importance of waste diversion. The County developed the Recycling Camp with the following goals in mind: Educate area youth about Escambia Countys overall Integrated Solid Waste Management program. Show where waste goes, demonstrate how a landfill works and explain what will happen if more waste is not diverted from landfills.

Highlight ways in which the Solid Waste Division recycles, reuses and diverts materials from the landfill. Hands-on projects using the recycled materials reinforce the value of these salvaged goods. Educate youth on how actions at home or around town can impact the local environment. Educate youth about diversion programs at the Perdido Landfill. Equip participants with the enthusiasm and knowledge to educate family and friends. When the program was first conceptualized, why was the Perdido Landfill chosen for participation and how did they respond?: I work as the Recycling and Education Outreach Coordinator for Escambia Countys Perdido Landfill, so sometimes

Continued on page 101. Summer 2009: First Dump Your Kid at the Perdido Landfill for the Day summer camp. Six of these kids returned in 2010. The group is posing with the front loader. Every camper gets the group shot and and individual picture with the front loader or dump truck.

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WasteAdvantage Magazine July 2011

Photos courtesy of Escambia County DSWM.

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Continued from page 48.

I work with other environmental educators on a variety of projects. The camp was conceptualized when I was volunteering for the Gulf Islands National Seashore summer camp program. Throughout the camp I was thinking I could do this at the landfill. I came back to the office started writing up a schedule of activities, then focused on how we could make it happen and if I could do it for very little money. I spent a couple of weeks working on documents with camp plans with Risk and Legal, and worked on consent and photo release forms (using copies from the National Seashores park program). In the Summer of 2009, we held three summer camps; in 2010 we held 10 Summer camps and four Christmas camps. This year we plan on holding 10 Summer camps. What ages are the children who attend the program? What timeframe does it run?: The day camp is from 9:00 a.m. (registration) to 3:00 p.m. (recycling oath and certification ceremony). We started with kids ages seven to14, but this year we are changing ages from six to 12 and the average camp has eight to 12 kids registered. Throughout the past few years, I have accepted a few six year olds and they did great with the camp. All of the kids enjoy the camp and having different ages helps with the interactions of the kids, but the 14 year olds seem to feel too old to be hanging with the six year olds and it seem like they felt obligated to be my helper or to be cool. So this year Im changing the ages a little to see if it helps. What kind of activities and educational programs can attendees expect to do during their time at the camp?: The main camp room is in the Perdido Landfill administration building. Below is the camp schedule of activities: 9:00 a.m. Registration/contact info/liability release and a photo release form for the parents to fill out. The camp is free, but campers are asked to bring at least one pair of gently used shoes for the shoe reuse and recycling program. Most of these shoes are donated to Soles4Souls. Campers are also given a reusable shopping bag full of little goodies. During this time campers color, get their face painted and make name tags. 9:20 a.m. Resource Matching Relay: we use this game to introduce kids to the Perdido Landfill and to natural resources and recycling. 9:45 a.m. Reblended paint project. We take latex paint turned into our Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection points and we reblend it with like colors and give it away to the community. We paint rocks for the Landfill Whimsical Garden with reblended paint. This is a recycled garden we are building at the Perdido Landfill. It is in the middle of our Citizens Convenience Center. It has old tires, broken concrete and bulldozer tracks while the base contains flowers made from reused and recycled materials. We also use an HHW Enviroscape that is a small model of a community with bodies of water, an aquifer, a landfill (with and without a liner), school, industries and a farm. With this model we can show the effects of placing HHW in the garbage. 11:00 a.m. Snack. Make a Luscious Layered Landfill. For this EPA activity, you use a clear cup for the cell and foods such as: graham crackers, Oreos, Twizzlers, M&Ms, ice cream, whip cream, etc. All of this goes in the cup to show layers of the landfill. First thing in the cup is the liner (fruit roll-up). We test engineering skills so if the clay under the liner (Oreos) stays dry, they will make a great engineer; if it is wet, they will have a little work to do. It is a great tool. When I take the kids for a tour, I point at gas pipes and ask, Do you remember the Twizzlers? 12:00 p.m. Front loader photo opportunity. Each camper gets a picture with the front loader and a group shot.

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Summer 2010, Enviroscape, HHW edition, using the model with a summer camp group.

12:15 p.m. Recycling center tour. 12:45 p.m. Lunch at the nature trail and recycled caterpillar. We made a caterpillar with about 50 used tractor and semi tires. 1:30 p.m. Tour of Perdido Landfill. We relate the landfill to the earlier Luscious Layered Landfill snack and HHW model. 2:00 p.m. Nature trail walk (depends on weather and time). Discuss why it is important for landfills to protect the surrounding environment. 2:45 p.m. Recycling games. 3:00 p.m. Certificate award and teach garbage mans handshake. Parent pickup. What is the most popular activity? The Resource Matching Game is very popular and fun, and I use it at many events. I made it from an old blue material display board, laminated paper and Velcro. The top of the display says: Match the Products to the Natural Resource. Under that, the left and right hand sides are identical. There are categories: trees, iron ore, bauxite ore, petroleum and sand. There are also pictures under each of the recyclables. You match the product to the resource; for example, soda can goes under bauxite ore. We take pictures, mix them up and the kids race each other. It is a fun activity that gets the kids thinking about what things are made from. The HHW Enviroscape and the landfill tour are also big favorites. How many kids usually attend the camp every year? There is one camp held per week and there are about 150 to 200 attendees per year. Summer school or daycare programs usually come for the day with 20 to 50 kids. What awards has the camp received? SWANAs Bronze Excellence Award for Public Education in 2010. Do you have a program during the year that is comparable to this one?: In 2010 we started Recycling Christmas Camp, that follows mostly the same schedule as the Summer camp except we make Christmas ornaments from recyclables. We held four camps with eight to12 kids attending per camp during the 2010 two-week Christmas break. | WA For more information, contact Dee Dee Green, Recycling Coordinator, Escambia County, Division of Solid Waste Management (Cantonment, FL), at (850) 937-2159, via e-mail at DDGREEN@co.escambia.fl.us or visit www.myescambia.com/Bureaus/ CommunityServices/SummerCamp.html.

2011 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved. Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine. Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher. WasteAdvantage Magazine July 2011

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