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Union students recycle during the holidays
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .The kindergartners of Tina Bonarigo's Union classroom showed off their recycled paper ornaments that were soon headed to family Christmas trees around Poland.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Kindergartner Parker Groman was filled with Christmas cheer as he decorated a tree ornament fashioned from old file folders on Dec. 16.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Vincent Sainato colored his recycled paper Christmas ornament in bright pink marker on Dec. 16.
By SARAH FOOR
The Green Team of Mahoning County notices more waste during Christmastime than any other time of the year. Many of the castoffs from Christmas festivities, including live Christmas trees, holiday cards and wrapping paper, are all recyclable goods.
To show how many papers can be easily repurposed, Green Team educator Peg Flynn visited Union Elementary on Dec. 16 and had students paint and decorate ornaments constructed out of a variety of recyclable materials.
Decorations for the younger students included a mitten or pine tree cut from old file folders and a reindeer from cereal and tissue boxes. Older students painted puzzle pieces and placed them on a small wreath, and created standing trees from gluing together Christmas cards.
In an afternoon session, Flynn helped a group of Union kindergartners decorate their file folder Christmas trees and told them about the different ways they can be green.
“We deal with an amazing amount of waste during Christmastime, but it’s so easy to reduce, reuse and recycle. You can make crafts from repurposed objects like we are today, but you can go further, too. Start carrying around reuseable containers to drink from and ask mom and dad to use cloth bags at the grocery store,” Flynn suggested.
The Green Team also has recycling drives in place to deal with other common waste during the holidays. Through Jan. 15, residents can drop off wrapping paper and greeting cards, packaged separately in brown paper bags and excluding ribbons, bows or foil, at any Green Team drop-off location.
For families who use fresh Christmas trees, the Green Team will be recycling them through Jan. 31 at special Mahoning County sites. The trees are dropped into local bodies of water and provide an excellent home for Ohio fish.