Fifth-grade teachers brings recycling enthusiasm to class
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
Sherry Fields and her fifth-grade students hope to make the world a better place to live — one sheet of paper at a time.
Fields, a teacher at Hillsboro Elementary School, teaches science to all three sections of fifth grade. And for the past eight years, she's incorporated a hands-on project into her classroom.
That project? Recycling.
For the past eight years, Fields has been teaching her classes about recycling. And while she teaches her students about the different types of plastics and what papers can be recycled together, Fields has also aided her pupils in getting some practical experience.
Every month, some of her students journey to classrooms and offices inside the elementary school building, collecting recycleables. Paper and cardboard usually come in the biggest amounts, Fields said.
The students sort the items, and Fields takes them to the Hillsboro recycling center, which is located behind the small water tower next to the grain elevator.
Friday morning, Fields brought her students down to the recycling center so they could see where all those items from school go.
"I decided it was time to get the kids more involved," Fields said.
So on Friday, after listening to a presentation by Paul Jantzen, who coordinates the recycling center volunteers, approximately 50 fifth graders got to work, hauling huge bags of office paper and heavy cardboard to their designated spots. Fifth-grade teachers Rod Just and Maura Wiebe were also on hand that morning.
In the classroom, Fields' students learn about how long objects take to decompose, what else can be made out of them, and what doesn't decompose when trapped in an airless, waterless landfill.
Fields has been recycling her own household items for about 20 years, she said.
"I think it's the right thing to do," she said.
She recycles everything possible, even the items that the Hillsboro recycling center doesn't take.
Hillsboro center accepts most papers, cardboard, and glass. But when it comes to plastics, the selection is limited.
There are seven different types of classics, Fields said. Hillsboro accepts one and two, which includes pop containers, water jugs, green plastic, milk jugs, butter and cool whip tubs, and detergent containers.
But be sure to clean out those butter containers, Fields said — things can get pretty smelly if they're not.
Plastics three through seven, which include shampoo bottles, yogurt containers, syrup bottles, and ketchup bottles, aren't accepted here, so Fields takes them to a recycling center in Abilene.
Not sure what kind of plastic you've got? Just look on the bottom of the container for the number, Fields said.
Fields hopes that similar recycling programs will soon spring up at the middle and high schools.
Later in the year, Fields hopes to take her students to visit the Abilene recycling center and the McPherson recycling center, which is where Hillsboro's materials go.
In a perfect world, she'd also like to see the Hillsboro recycling center open more hours.
"It would be nice to be open daily," Field said.
Currently the recycling center is open Thursday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon.
