Hello World! Today we had a day of thinking and planning. We made some big decisions and big plans. We can’t share them just yet because our teacher, Mr. Mendes, and our Principal Ms. Miller, are telling us we have to go through the right “channels” and be “appropriate.” Hah! Who knew he was gonna let us watch TV at school! Channels are the like the thing you have to go through before you can say and do what you really want to do. It’s the patient and polite way to do things (so we are told).
Anyway, we can you a little sneak peak at what we’re up to. Here goes!
We’ve noticed a problem with most of the restaurants, theaters, and basic businesses all up and down Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. We’ve noticed that these places don’t offer recycling to their customers — us! We’re not just blaming them. We’re trying to understand what’s going on here. Our teachers tell us NOT to play the blame game. They tell us to look for complicated answers to problems and not just for the simple ones. They tell us to dig deeper and use our brains.
So, we called a few businesses and asked the owners why they don’t offer recycling. We got the same answer from two businesses. “There just isn’t enough space in my place to store all the recycling that would stack up over time.” Another owner said the same thing too! Well, GEARITY’S EARTH PROTECTORS have seen a problem and Trinity, Haven and Jadrian have suggested a solution.
We are going to research this issue more and then write up a proposal. That means plan for you kids out there. We’ll take this plan to the mayor and city council of Cleveland Heights. Since there is an election coming up in two weeks we thought we’d share our plan with some of the candidate. They’re always talk “green” this and “green” that. Well, let’ see if the can “talk the talk” and “walk the walk”. Maybe they will work with us and represent what we want. We can’t vote yet BUT we are citizens!!!! And, we think, no, we KNOW we have some really amazing ideas and solutions!
So, stay tuned on this one. We hope to make the news and we hope a city council candidate will visit us at our class. In fact, we are inviting any Cleveland Heights councilman or councilwoman or candidate running for council to come to our class, room 205, Gearity Professional Development School at 2323 Wrenford Rd. in University Heights to discuss our proposal. We want to do this ASAP! CAll us at 216 371 6515 to make an appointment with our Advisor Mr. Mendes
No time to waste, since we need to get back to working on our proposal, and our Math, and Spelling and Writing and Reading and Science…well…you get the picture. We’re kinda busy. But not too busy to protect the earth! If we don’t…who will?
Sincerely yours,
GEARITY’S EARTH PROTECTORS
Great work! This is a terrific problem to tackle. Our local businesses and our whole community will benefit from more recycling opportunities in retail establishments.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for all you and the kids are doing.
The Lusty Wrench offers recycling for cardboard and paper via a City-owned dumpster located inside our shop. This dumpster is used by several adjacent businesses. We and the Lube-Stop also accept used motor oils for recycling. We recycle literally tons of metal annually. Our plastics recycling capacity is limited by space concerns, but we do recycle hundreds of pounds of plastics annually. We recycle some consumer plastics (used drink containers, etc) for our clientele, but safety concerns (automobile repair involves some operations that require special safety training and equipment) prevent us from offering truly “public” recycling. We also accept used leak-free automotive batteries for recycling.
Home Depot at Severance (OK, it’s not Lee Rd., but it’s not the other side of the moon, either!) offers free recycling (Customer Service Desk) for fluorescent lamps, including tubes and CFLs. And Radio Shack recycles small mercury-, lithium-, and Ni-Cad-containing batteries as well as some small appliances.
Just recently, Laura Marks and Didi Woolens have gotten Heights High School to begin composting and teachers like you have greatly expanded recycling of paper throughout the school district.
It’s true that recycling does tend to accumulate over time and can take up quite a bit of space. That just means it has to be picked up more often, not that it shouldn’t happen at all! Still, setting up and accommodating a recycling program at, say, The Stone Oven, would be very difficult from a logistical point of view: they’d need to increase the number of bins considerably, and to educate their customers as to what and how to recycle. Separating food waste from plastics gets pretty tough without rinsing (at least) and pretty smelly, too. Left inside overnight, the smells can turn even a great place into a dump where no one would wish to eat. Left outside, the waste can attract vermin including skunks and rodents. In any event, recycling efforts at such a place probably require at least one additional employee, thereby increasing costs, and ultimately, prices. Perhaps it would be possible to enlist several nearby restaurants to form a consortium to accommodate and coordinate such programs if the necessary staff and facilities could be jointly funded at affordable levels.
Good luck, and keep up the good work!
—
“Check your tire inflations!”
Sam Bell
the lusty wrench
http://www.lustywrench.com
ASE L-1 Technician of the Year
e4s “Champion of Sustainability”
Contributing Editor, MOTOR Magazine
216-371-8150