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Eco-team Recycling at Ridge Meadows Home Show

The Thomas Haney secondary Eco-Team will be helping people sort their waste

The Eco-Action Team at Thomas Haney secondary has been a driving force for recycling at the school since 2008.

Now the team is taking on the Ridge Meadows Home Show.

This will be the second year at the Home Show for the group, originally formed to educate the student population on environmental issues.

Members plan to have recycling stations set up in the Food Truck Festival area at the Home Show, along with a roving team members educating the public about the school’s recycling program.

The group will set up four stations, each with five bins – ones for waste, organics, bottles and cans, cardboard, and plastics.

Jaden Dyer has been with the group for the past five years. She will be one of the six members working the Home Show, as will Grade 9 students Ashley Butler, Taylor Bonifanzi, Brianna Dyer and Amelia McMillan.

“I love Maple Ridge and I love all the alluring sights and sounds of nature that come along with it, and the beauty that it has to offer,” said Dyer, in Grade 12.

“So my passion is to try to maintain that so that my children and my great grandchildren and so on are able to walk in our forests and meadows and swim in our lakes and to breathe clean air and to drink clean water.”

That is why Dyer took the lead with the Home Show program, to try to make the event as green as possible.

“Our role is basically to help the guests who come through the Home Show and sort their waste,” explained Carla van der Pauw, teacher sponsor for the Eco-Action group at Thomas Haney.

“We are basically directing them to the multi-use recycling bins to let them know what goes in the garbage, what is compost and what is recycling,” added van der Pauw, and that it is also educational for the public – to know that not everything is garbage.

“To be more aware of their options when it comes to recycling.”

The students in the group agree that coffee cups are probably one of the misunderstood items for the recycling bin.

“Because the plastic lid, they don’t really know that they have to clean it out, they think they can throw the whole thing away,” said Bonifanzi.

“But the plastic lid needs to be put in one and the cup in another and it needs to be rinsed out,” Bonifanzi added.

“And some organizations sometimes make their utensils actually biodegradable, although they appear to be plastic, so then lots of people put them in the plastic. But they can actually be put in your organics,” said Brianna Dyer, adding to check utensils for the biodegradable logo.

Van der Pauw is proud of the whole team.

“It’s awesome and amazing to see one of our students run with that and put it into action.”

In addition to getting volunteer hours required to graduate from high school, students also get experience in the field by helping at the Home Show, said van der Pauw, adding that some in the group are interested in going into environmental science.

There will be at least two students on each shift to keep an eye on the recycling stations, but there are many hours to fill during the long days and evenings at the Home Show.

Last year, Amelia McMillan worked 19 hours, as did most of the students.

Another aspect of working the Home Show is the social component and the appreciation the girls get from the visitors.

“It’s definitely hard work and it can be difficult to confront people about these things and be assertive in that way but in the end it’s definitely worth it,” said Dyer.

“And you can see it from most people how appreciative they are of you trying to help them.”

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The Thomas Haney Eco-Team will be helping people sort their waste at the Ridge Meadows Home Show. (Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS)
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Home show


Colleen Flanagan

About the Author: Colleen Flanagan

I got my start with Black Press Media in 2003 as a photojournalist.
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