Liberty County Starts Early with Recycling Efforts

Liberty County leaders are starting early with recycling efforts, through the help of 4 and 5-year-olds.

First United Methodist Pre-K and Kindergarten placed 19th in a national recycling event, competing with more than 1,000 other schools.

"It's a bag that you put plastic bottles in," says Hannah Rogers, a student at First United Methodist.

Water bottles aren’t just water bottles to Hannah. "It's a bottle that you recycle," says Hannah. She can also tell you how recycling works.

"They make it, the stuff, into stuff," says Hannah and she learned all of that at school.

"We've been spearheading this project for Liberty County schools," says Leah Poole, Liberty County United Way’s Director. The United Way  works with Keep Liberty Beautiful to coordinate Return the Warmth, a national recycling project.

 This year five schools in the county spent about three months collecting plastic bottles: Lewis Frasier Middle School, Midway Middle School, Bradwell Institute, Liberty County High School, and First United Methodist. Together, they collected 6.2 tons of plastic.

First United Methodist brought in more than 3,300 pounds alone, ranking the school number 19 in the nation.

The top fifty schools received a thousand dollars and 250 fleece jackets made out of recycled plastic bottles. "It really means something to the students to get something back so they can see the product of their efforts," says Leah.

They then give the jackets to those in need in the community. "It's really fired the kids up to think about not only that recycling can make a difference in the present, but it can also have long-term positive effects too for our community," says Keep Liberty Beautiful Director Sara Swida.

Some Liberty County schools are now recycling year-round. "I had a 3-year-old tell me last year that he was recycling to save the earth," says Leah.

"We recycle and it's really fun," says Hannah, but she's still trying to get her family on the bandwagon. Program leaders tell us just reaching one student is a milestone.

If you think recycling doesn't make a difference in the environment, take a look at this:

Recycling one aluminum can will run a computer for three hours.

Recycling one soft drink bottle will save enough energy to run a TV for an hour and a half.

Recycling five pounds of paper will conserve enough water to offset the water used in a typical shower.