By Madison Plaisance
Earth Day is today and Lincoln Parish residents are ready to get involved to help the planet.
Almost anything can be recycled from cardboard to batteries a lot of typical items thrown away can be switched to recycling.
Kai Malone has only resided in Ruston for two months but said he does his best to keep the town clean.
“I typically recycle egg cartons and plastic,” Malone said. “It helps animals stay safe and our air stay clean.”
Choosing to throw trash away in the recycling bin is always a good idea but sometimes it is not enough. Heaven Griffith lived in Ruston for eight years and has a different opinion on recycling.
“I really care about our environment and I do recycle at home,” Griffith said, “But I don’t think it is as important as we make it out to be.”
Griffith recalls watching garbage trucks taking both recycling and trash cans during their pickup and putting them away in the same space.
“It’s just a little suspicious to me…” Griffith said. “I feel like it all ends up at the same place.”
The main issue with recycling is that people tend to not pay attention to what they are recycling.
“Not everything is recyclable and I think it is important to realize that,” Malone said. “If you mix non-recyclables with recyclables all of those recyclables will go to waste since it’s been contaminated.”
In order to make sure something is recyclable, people must check its cleanliness, size and content. Something too dirty or big can not be recycled. In the same sense something with mixed mediums, such as plastic lined coffee cups can not be recycled. Small, clean and simple items are the best way to go when choosing to recycle.
This does not change the fact that there are some things that are out of these limits that people may want to recycle and there is still a way to do this.
Louisiana Tech University sociology student Vlad Kirsch has found a sufficient way to recycle items they no longer need.
“Not all trash is trash,” Kirsch said. “If you want to recycle something you can always try recycling it within your home.”
One way Kirsch does this is by taking old CDs and turning them into artwork on their wall to get more use out of them instead of throwing them out.
“You could also take water bottles and use them multiple times,” Kirsch said. “Sometimes people forget that there’s more ways to recycle than to just throw them in the blue bin.”
Even if recycling at home for personal use is not an option, every small action is important to keeping the parish both beautiful and clean.
To get more involved in recycling within your community contact visit Recycling Guide – Recycling Tips and Information to learn about proper recycling within the area or contact a trash pick up service to add a recycling bin.
