Polk County Celebrates Earth Day, Everyday, Through Recycling Programs

BY MELANIE BUCK –

Earth Day, like many other days of the same capacity, was founded by one man with a thought that turned into a mission. Upset by the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, Gaylord Nelson, a then U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, acted on his thoughts and was “inspired by the student anti-war movement” of the 1960’s. He realized that if he could combine the anti-war energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda and Earth Day 1970 was born.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife, suddenly realized they shared common values.

According to www.earthday.org, “Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.” “It was a gamble,” Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”

Earth Day was revived in 1990 when the event stretched globally, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995, the highest honor given to civilians in the United States, for his role as Earth Day founder.

“Earth Day broadens the base of support for environmental programs, rekindles public commitment and builds community activism around the world through a broad range of events and activities. Earth Day is the largest civic event in the world, celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than a billion people participate in our campaigns every year,” said Earth Day organizers.

Polk County has many groups and businesses that do their part in helping everyday become Earth Day by way of recycling. Mena Walmart Manager Scott Brown said that recycling is something that is close to his heart and they do what they can to keep the environment clean. Besides the bins kept in the foyers for customers to bring their plastic bags for recycle, Brown said, “We also recycle all of our alumnium cans and plastic bottles that we use in the store in break rooms, and empty pharmacy bottles.”

Walmart actually has a baler on site that flattens the products and bales them up for easy transport. “Sometimes we have one bale a day or more. It mashes flat, wraps it up, and a company comes around every two weeks to pick them up. We also do cardboard bales and sandwich bales which are plastic and aluminum mixed.” Walmart also accepts printer cartridges in the Electronics Department, batteries at the service desk, and used automotive batteries and used motor oil at the Tire Center. They also repurpose old tires. Brown said there are actually Walmart parking lots made out of used tires. Walmart takes shredded tires and mixes them with a compound to make parking lots.

“We utilize a lot of material. We use a lot of plastic and cardboard and the more we can keep out of a landfill, the better. Broken eggs and dairy products go into a bin and a compost company comes and picks that up. I think people would be surprised. Compared to 20 years ago when I started, everything went into the trashcan. The company realized how much was going into landfills and wondered what they could do about it,” explained Brown. He also explained that their paperwork is shredded and recycled.

“Kathy Russert at Acorn a few years ago wanted to teach her kids to recycle and she called me and asked what she could do. We worked it out and I told her if you can raise a certain amount of pounds of plastic sacks, we’ll donate. I think we donated $500. We try to work with the community,” said Brown.

Shelby Vaughn, President of RMCC Science Club said their club is working hard to encourage recycling and to promote environmental consciousness. “We accept bottles, cans, and paper. We are in charge of picking up receptacles on campus and emptying them into the containers provided by PCDC and they pick them up weekly,” said Vaughn. This is a new program for the club and they hope to add more items to their recycling program in the future.

Polk County Developmental Center, or PCDC as most know it, is the name that comes to mind when it comes to recycling in Polk County. For decades, the Center has encouraged, promoted, and changed lives with their recycling program.

Carla White, WAC Supervisor at PCDC, said they provide cardboard pick-up services for approximately 150 local businesses and they recycle many different types of material including cardboard, aluminum cans, #1 and #2 plastic bottles, junk mail, white paper, magazines, clothing, and household items. “Our recycled material, so far for this year is over 635,000 pounds,” said White. She added, “PCDC’s recycling program helps businesses with reducing the cost of trash expenses.  It helps with less waste going to the landfills and it reminds our community to think about REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE.”

The money that PCDC receives from recycling is produced from the sales of the recycled materials that are sold.  “All monies brought in from recycling are kept locally and helps provide services for children and adults with disabilities,” White said. Overall, PCDC employs over 60 people, with the help of the recycling program.

There are many ways that you can choose to participate in Earth Day on April 22, but even better, participate everyday by changing your habits, learning to repurpose what you can, and recycle what you can’t. If you would like to learn more about how you can help, visit www.earthday.org

“To build a better future, we all must commit to protect our environment year-round.”

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