Teaching The Value Of Recycling By Cleaning Your Town's Streets

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recycling abandoned trash and items

I began taking an interest in every aspect of recycling when an area close to my hometown was destroyed by people dumping off trash and unwanted items. This area was down a long dirt road that was rarely used by anyone other than those looking for a scenic drive on a nice day. I took part in the clean-up effort and that was when my recycling obsession was sparked. From that point on, I have stopped along the road to pick up trash and dumped off items. Once I have these items, I do my best to break them down and recycle every element possible. This blog will show you all kinds of things about recycling that you may not already know.

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Teaching The Value Of Recycling By Cleaning Your Town's Streets

7 September 2015
 Categories: , Blog


If you are the leader of an environmental group, scouting group, or teacher to students learning about the Earth's valuable resources, you may want to consider hosting a town cleanup event to help beautify the area and teach participants about the value of recycling. Here are some tips you can incorporate into your cleanup efforts, leaving your town with pristine streets while allowing those who help out to feel great about doing their part in taking care of the environment.

Get The Word Out

Let those in your group or class know of your intentions and see if they have friends or family members who wish to give a helping hand. Advertise on a local radio station, place flyers in town establishments, and spread the word via social media. Consider holding a contest to see who can collect the most trash. This will entice people to join as there will be some friendly competition, allowing participants a chance of winning a prize or bragging rights.

Inform Trash Service

If you plan on collecting large amounts of trash or recycling, you will want to have dumpsters delivered to collect refuse. If you have a local recycling service available, you can have participants visit together to learn how the items they had collected will be separated and reused. If the recycling needs to be hauled away to a recycling plant, make sure the dumpster company you work with has separate containers specifically for recycling.

Hand Out Materials

On the day of the event, give each participant a few garbage bags to place their items within. Have each person bring along a pair of gloves so they are not touching refuse as they are collecting it. Have participants separate items collected by putting trash in dark-colored bags and recyclables in light-colored bags.

If you are holding a contest, give each participant stickers with their name on them so they can place them on each bag they fill up. Have members leave the garbage bags on the side of the road. Designate a friend with a pickup truck to collect these bags to bring back to the dumpster area. 

Compile The Trash

When everyone is done collecting trash, have them meet at the dumpster area to see how much they had found on the streets. Separate light-colored bags from dark-colored bags so the items are placed in the proper dumpsters. If you are holding a contest, have someone tally the number of bags as they are thrown into the dumpsters. Make sure to take pictures, so your participants can be recognized by displaying the photos in a local paper or via social media sites.

For help with any recycling equipment you may need, contact a company like C-TEC Compactors & Balers.