Young eco-leaders: Texarkana students take on recycling

TEXARKANA, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) — Students at Waggoner Creek Elementary are setting off to learn how even the small members of our community can have a big impact when they reduce, reuse, and recycle.

“We’re just here to educate the kids. They were wanting to start a recycling program and we’re more than happy to help,” said Jarod Miller, District Manager for Texarkana, Texas at Waste Management.

The students at Waggoner Creek Elementary are getting hands on education about how recycling works and why it is important.

“Each classroom will have the recyclable bins and we will have kindergarten and first grade students kind of take the lead on gathering up all of the recyclables, making sure that they get to the road every week for pickup,” said Waggoner Creek Elementary Principal Kasey Coggin.

It is part of their place based learning initiative, which follows the threads of students’ curiosity to show them how their community functions and how they fit in it.

“Recycling kept coming up as an issue and something that we needed to focus on in our community,” said Coggin, “Like this was a really great way to positively impact our community while teaching them the importance of protecting our earth as well.”

The school is teaming up with Keep Texarkana Beautiful and Waste Management, who says teaching kids early helps keep trash out of landfills by making sure they grow up to become responsible recyclers later in life.

“People get confused sometimes like, for example, clothing. Clothing can be reused, but it can’t be recycled. Plastic bags people think can be recycled, but, but they can’t go in the recycle,” said Miller.

For now the hope is that they also turn around and pass on all they are learning to their parents.

“100% yeah, kids will hold the parents accountable. They’ll call them out pretty quick, because they paid attention. They knew a lot already. You can tell the teachers have worked with them and talked about and discussed it. So no, it helps us tremendously,” said Miller.

The school also is planning to plant a tree on the school grounds for arbor day and help out with a community cleanup event on earth day.