Students distribute free recycling bins to neighborhoods

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- Every Saturday, eight Grand Valley State University students hit the streets on the west side of Grand Rapids offering recycling bins free of charge to residents, in an attempt to increase recycling.

These students are participating in a service learning course, Ecological Literacy and Sustainability at Grand Valley, led by Professor Kelly Parker. Spending two hours every Saturday, students go door-to-door trying to educate the residents about the importance of recycling, and the benefits that it can offer not only to the environment but also to their wallets.

“It’s a new class, an experiment in civic learning.” Parker said, “Everyone in the class was asked to come up with a project. Two projects came out of the class, one was the recycling group, and the other was a community garden project.”

The group has been working with the City of Grand Rapids Streets and Sanitations Department to help raise awareness about Grand Rapids’ free Recycling program. The class has found that the recycling rates in lower-income and Latino neighborhoods are devastatingly low compared to other Grand Rapids neighborhoods. One of the problems was that the city was having a hard time educating the Spanish-speaking community about this program.

“We have found that many residents do not know about the free recycling program,” said participating student Tony Nelson, “and are excited to learn about how they can save themselves money by reducing the amount of trash they have.”

For the students, one of the biggest challenges they face is to convince some residents that they are not soliciting or directly benefiting from this project.

“The goal of the project was to bridge the gap between the college and the community.” Nelson said, “Our plan is to drop off the bins, and go back in a month to follow up with the residents. At that time we also will hand out pamphlets about how to recycle other materials in Grand Rapids, such as electronics.”

So far the students have gone out four different Saturdays, and have signed up 30 families for the free recycling program, each family receiving two bins, one for paper and one for plastics, metals and glass.

“It has been a fantastic learning experience for the students,” Parker said, “and seems to be successful.”

Among the financial savings for the residents, and the environmental savings, students have also found that the city of Grand Rapids benefits financially from recycling. For example, companies in China are buying recycled plastic grocery bags from the city.

Students will be out knocking on doors again this Saturday. For more information contact Professor Kelly Parker at (616) 331-3257.