I really enjoyed this class. One of my thoughts about educating people in the community is through Social Media. It would be great to have a Master Recycler’s presence on several different social media–but I could definitely see it being useful on Pinterest. We could create boards on Upcycling projects which would encourage people from disposing so much, recycling, sustainability etc. The great part about Pinterest is that the teaching can go on much longer after it was originally posted. The cycling of pins being repinned again and rippling out to new viewers is great. I was thinking if members of the class could be added to a group of pinners on a board or boards on Pinterest for SLC Master Recycler – we could really develop some pretty good boards.
I would love to see more centralized websites about where to take (or even get things). Imagine a site where you can ask a question, like where do I get rid of my sofa? and then there are direct links to resources such as Freecyle, Craigslist, KSL ads, Deseret Industries, Big Brothers/Big Sisters (and the landfill being at the end of the list of options). I don’t know what it would take to create such a site, but it would be nice if there was an option for I want to get rid of, or I would like. So maybe a teacher who is wanting to do arts & crafts with her students could post something like would like 150 plastic gallon milk jugs, or coffee cans and people could get it to the school rather than recycling them? It frustrates me to know that there are people who would love to have some resource that they are going without, at the very same time someone is trying to get rid of it–and doesn’t know that what they perceive as garbage or junk is a needed resource for someone else. Things like carpet samples are great for classrooms where kids are sitting on the floor, and learning about boundaries.
Not too long ago, a pretty nice sofa sitting at the side of the road. It actually was in very good condition – and I knew that there have been many years in my life as a single parent, that I would have loved to be able to get a free sofa in that kind of condition. However, it sat on the side of the road overnight–and in the morning I saw that it was tagged with gang graffiti. How sad it is that the sofa didn’t get to a person who really could use it (because I know that there are a lot of people in the community that could have used it).