Volunteering - PRC Hard to Recycle Event

I finally got the opportunity to volunteer again at one of Pennsylvania Resources Council's (PRC's) collection events. This event was one of the Hard to Recycle drop-off opportunities for the communities south of Pittsburgh. It was held at an elementary school, which had a good route for traffic that didn't end up blocking the road.

The event went very smoothly, other than the participant's truck that broke down in line! Luckily, he was still able to drop off his unwanted items for recycling, but he had to call a tow truck to remove his vehicle 😢

I highly recommend volunteering for these types of events. PRC takes good care of volunteers, providing drinks, snacks, and a portable restroom. The participants are friendly and thankful. I was able to volunteer for just the second half of the event, which was convenient for me.

I can't recall any unusual items being dropped off, but I was surprised by how many people dropped off multiple TVs...one person had six!

Here are some pictures from the event: 

Line of vehicles coming in

My job was to check what the participant brought in and tally the cost

 

Messy volunteer station at the end of the day!

Refuse sorting station

Eco Scouts: Waste and Watersheds

Today was the last Eco Scouts session! 

Participants who attended all the sessions received certificates of completion, and there was cake for everyone as well.

This session focused on watersheds. We learned about where drinking water comes from in our area, how it is processed, and where water goes when it goes down the pipe or the stormwater grate.

Our first exercise was to guess where our water comes from and where it goes. I was a bit embarrassed that I have been living in Pittsburgh for ten years, and I wasn't 100% certain about the details. I could tell you a lot about water in Arizona, however.

In my drawing, I guessed that my water comes from the main rivers in Pittsburgh (Monongahela or Allegheny), and my wastewater is processed by a local treatment plant I have seen that is connected to a small stream (they are called "runs" here). I assume they discharge the treated water there. Here's my drawing:

What I found out is that my water actually comes from the Youghiogheny River, which feeds into the Monongahela River. We learned about the history of that river, which had a polluted past, and how the water from that river is treated so it is safe to drink.

Another exercise we did was to visualize how all water is connected. We wrote a personal connection to water on a piece of paper (like our cup of coffee in the morning) and used string to show how our touching of that water is connected to the environment and others' uses of water. This was connected to learning about the water cycle and how water moves through the environment and back into our water system.

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County was the main presenter for this last session of Eco Scouts. They brought some swag, and we also got a few additional items for our last day of Eco Scouts, like a branded bandana, our remaining patches, and some leftover sewing kits.

Eco Scouts was a great experience. It was nice to connect with people in the community, and the Eco Scouts organizers, Laura and Lauren, went above and beyond to deliver an engaging and fun program for adults. I encourage anyone in the Pittsburgh area to attend the next time they put this together!

Eco Scouts: Recycling Deep Dive

 I missed the Repair and Reuse session of Eco Scouts, because I was out of town 😞. I heard they got little sewing kits to take home and got to sew their badges onto something.

I was able to attend Recycling Deep Dive, however, so here's what that was all about...

Agenda!

The first thing we did was watch a video of a material recovery facility (MRF). This is where our unsorted recyclables go to get sorted for recycling. We learned about why municipalities make some of the rules they do about what can go in the recycling bin and in what condition.

One important thing I learned is that there is misinformation going around in the media that less than 10% of plastics get recycled. I have heard this disheartening figure. It was clarified that this percentage is related to the entire U.S. economy. Rest assured, if you put the appropriate plastics in your recycling bin, they are very likely to get recycled. The issue is how much plastic in the economy is going straight to landfills without the opportunity to be recycled.

The activities for this session of Eco Scouts were a waste audit and a life cycle system boundary draft for a discarded product.

Waste to sort for the waste audit

Waste audit sorting and documentation

Working on a system boundary for a router

These activities got us thinking about what people throw out and what materials things are made of.

The last Eco Scouts session is coming up! I will provide my overall thoughts on Eco Scouts in that post.