Kids take can-do attitude to recycling

By Elise Franco

Pupils at Canfield Village Middle School are about $15,000 shy of their goal.

CANFIELD — The pupils at Canfield Village Middle School want to save the environment, one aluminum can at a time.

Teacher Vicki Latimer said the kids collected 1,924 pounds of cans in October — the most ever turned in to Mahoning County’s Green Team in one month.

Three years ago, pupils in Latimer’s fifth- and sixth-grade STAR class, approached her about starting a recycling project at the school. The goal of the class, which integrates science and technology, is to raise $20,000 — enough money to replace the school’s current track, made of dirt and gravel, with recycled scrap rubber from tires.

“We were talking about the benefits of recycling in class, and the kids decided they wanted to do something,” Latimer said. “We called the Green Team, who got us started, and Allied Waste donated a Dumpster for free for the duration of the project.”

She said in 2006, the first year of the project, pupils made about $500.

In 2007, that figure nearly quadrupled to about $2,000.

Latimer said this year they’ve already raised about $4,500.

She said she’s amazed at how the kids are able to collect so many cans effortlessly.

“These kids are pretty good,” Latimer said, laughing.

Three pupils, Ryan Camardo, 13; Sabrina Mangapora, 14; and Paige Burcoli, 13, said they became involved through Latimer’s classes, and the habit of collecting stuck with them.

Ryan said it’s easy to gather bags full of cans because his family drinks pop daily.

“I got a bag and put it outside,” he said. “Every day my mom would wash the cans and put them in the bag, and when it got full, I’d bring it to school.”

Paige said her father even gets his co-workers to collect.

“At my dad’s work, he has a trash can outside the office,” she said. “Everyone there has their own bins too.”

Paige said she’s happy that adults in the community are pitching in.

“They’re giving to our school, and they’re helping the environment at the same time,” she said. “We ruined the Earth, and now we have to fix it.”

Latimer said she thinks community members have seen what the pupils are doing and are learning from their examples.

“Community support is really amazing,” she said. “I don’t know if [the kids] know how important it is that they show us what to do.”

Sabrina said she was a part of the first class to participate in the project, and she remembers it well.

“The first time, we just had a McDonald’s bag full of cans,” she said.

Sabrina said after that, collecting cans became contagious.

“Once you bring in one, and you know you’ve done something good, you want to bring in more,” she said.

Sabrina said it’s about more than just raising enough money for a new track, too.

“Doing this sends a double message,” Sabrina said. “By recycling, we’re helping the environment, but we’re also helping the school get a new track so people can exercise and be healthier.”

Ryan, Paige and Sabrina have spent three years participating in the recycling project, and soon they’ll be moving on to Canfield High School.

They said they plan to continue to recycle and have encouraged siblings, who attend or will attend CVMS, to carry on the tradition so that pupils might one day soon walk on a new track.

efranco@vindy.com