We recycle aluminum cans to help the environment and to fund our projects. (Interestingly, a survey we conducted via email of the Earth Rainbow Network Members about the most important aspect of our project found overwhelmingly that recycling/reusing is the most important thing an individual can do to have a positive impact on our earth.) To date we have used our money from recycling to purchase a bathouse, lumber for our bluebird houses and even adopted a manatee named Amanda! (See our endangered animal gallery for more information about Amanda.)
Recycling
Reuse
A Community Project
Community Recycling Information
Recycling
I like to recycle cans. I'm glad we found all the places people can recycle here. I hope other people help the earth by recycling too.
By Nicole
Reuse
We have been involved in several reuse projects. We have refurbished toys that we donated to the Beacon (a local service agency that helps the needy) for Christmas. We cleaned out our closets prior to school starting and donated clothes we had outgrown to the Beacon so others could have new school clothes. This past Christmas we made 60 cards for residents of Fort Scott Manor, a local nursing facility, with natural materials and typing paper for which we could find no use. Our recycling banks are made from squeeze butter containers and we reuse as many plastic containers as we can. Finally, Samantha, independently developed The Kid's Channel mascot, Francis the Frog, by reusing mismatched socks!!!
How I Made Francis the Frog
I got an idea to make a frog. I made it out of socks, thread and old material. I cut the socks and stuffed them and then I sewed it. I cut another sock and made its arms. I stuffed and sewed it. Then I took the material and made the eyes, nose and mouth. After making clothes I was done.
I got the idea to make a frog from going to the lake. When I go to the lake I see many frogs I like. I see tree frogs at my window too. When I made my frog I thought about the environment. Instead of using new stuff I used old and I got it all out of my closet. It turned out to be a very pretty frog and I learned that with a little imagination you can reuse what others call junk to make something nice.
After I finished my frog I thought, "One person can make a very big difference." I did and it made me feel good. (Here is a drawing of Francis the Frog that I made.)
By Samantha
A Community Project
As a result of our recycling successes we initially attempted to find a local plastic recycler. We had so many 2 liter cola bottles filling the trash that everyone agreed that this would be a great project.
Initially we called the Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce and they were unable to provide any recycling information. We wrote to Kansas Department of Health and Environment. We discovered that there were no opportunities for plastic recycling in our Southeast Kansas area. The Southeast Regional Planning Commission was working on a grant to further local recycling. After contacting the Planning Commission we discovered that plastics recycling appeared to be a "future" local event. Although a manufacturer of plastic wood had recently moved to Kansas, their company was not local and there was no market for plastic recycling.
We asked what other recycling opportunities were available locally. We discovered that the information was in a large format and that the information was not easily accessible to the public. As a result we made brochures to distribute locally to coincide with March/April (March 30 is Arbor Day in Kansas and April is Keep America Beautiful Month.) We placed our brochure and two posters in the library.
We presented the information to the city of Fulton through our Mayor and provided the Chamber of Commerce in Fort Scott with this information. Hopefully our project will help increase community awareness. At the town council meeting the recycling issue was read into the minutes and the Council members are going to explore the idea of a container program.
Community Recycling Information
Bourbon County Transfer and Recycling - will take tires, leaves, glass and aluminum
Judy's Iron and Metal, Inc. - will take aluminum cans and other metal products
Key Industries - take paper products to Distribution Center: office paper; newspapers; telephone books; cardboard cereal boxes
Tower Metal - takes aluminum and zinc
This picture was drawn by Samantha for our brochure.
© Copyright 1998 The Hendrix Home School
