Sometimes subtle gets the message across better than an “in your face” approach. Visitors to the north side of the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center on Wednesday, June 11, likely noticed the blue awning next to a pair of white IBC totes and four gaylord boxes. I had the opportunity to tell a handful of people that I was sorting bags from the curbside program and invited them to lend a hand if they were so inclined.
The tent will be back Wednesdays this summer (as long as staffing allows) as a way to show the public how we process single stream recycling by hand. Rather than continuing to write about/announce how to recycle responsibly our KAB staff wants to offer something hands on.
However, there will be no sign with eight-inch letters imploring passersby to “Please help recycle our curbside at the blue tent!” We will simply set up and sort and engage the curious who want to know what we’re doing. I am looking forward to the first impromptu volunteer. Even five or ten minutes is plenty enough time as we pitch cans, bottles, paper and everything else where it goes. Ripping open a couple shopping bags from the senior route is a fitting segway to explain where recyclables end up when they leave Alliance.
Also, if you stop by and lend a hand, the luck of the draw could bring a bag of things that end up in file 13. On occasion the bag is mostly trash and we throw the whole thing out. Under the tent last week at least a third of the bags had contaminated items, such as moldy dog food cans or unrinsed salad dressing bottles, that could be removed, or things that were simply not recyclable, such as a pair of shoes too worn to find a new home in the Mission Store. People who stop by are likely utilizing the trailers and are not curbside recyclers though the principles are the same regardless of how materials make it through our doors.
Few people interact when we happen to be working on a task near the trailers. Others who stop by the front door to unload rarely ask for the nickel tour either, including a first-hand sorting demonstration. Yet, summer is here at what should be a slower pace. Take the time to experience the next stage of recycling first hand. Or, if you simply want to learn about what we do at Keep Alliance Beautiful, step into the shade of the blue tent to chat.
There is value in connecting with the process and learning