Re: Nelson schools cut back on recycling, Dec. 10
I was shocked to learn in the Nelson Star that Nelson schools are no longer recycling anything but cardboard — not paper, not plastic, not containers. Really? Everything gets thrown together into the big black garbage bag?!
What are we teaching our children with this huge step back?
For years the children learned what to recycle, how important recycling is to save the environment; we’ve read in the Nelson Star about all the recycling programs they’ve participated in and seen the artwork they’ve made out of recyclables, and now we are asking them to throw paper into the garbage? (And a school produces lots of waste paper.) How can teachers run a project of planting trees for the environment, but then not recycle? How can students demonstrate for their future, but then be denied to recycle at their school?
If School District 8’s recycling collector Waste Management Inc. cannot sort recycling, then the schools have to do it. Come on, teachers, students, parents! That’s a great environmental project to take on. Organize the respective containers and teach the children waste separation. That’s practical environmental education. Our children want to save this planet. We owe them the opportunity to recycle at their schools, because save the planet we must!
Gerda Hammerer
Nelson