Springfield, Mo. Teaches Kids About Recycling with “Trash or Treat” Event

The city of Springfield, Mo., and its environmental services are hosting a “Trash or Treat” event to teach kids about recycling and taking care of the earth.

Kids will visit different stations during the event that combines the Halloween tradition with recycling education. At each station, a child will decide if something is “trash” or a “treat,” which would mean recyclable in this situation. After deciding, kids will be given a treat before heading to the next station.

“Of course, with every question that they answer as they make their way around, each of the bins will have a question trash or treat, and then give them a treat on their way out as they make their way around the bins,” said Laurie Davis, Education Outreach Coordinator for Environmental Services.

“We want to remind people to be thoughtful about their holiday adventures, and to think before you throw, and if there are things that you’re using for the holidays that could potentially be either repurposed or reused, or recycled, to use those opportunities and to keep things out of our landfill.”

The goal of the event is to teach people how to recycle properly and preserve space in landfills, according to Davis.

“It really is taking all of us working together to think about making less waste; anything that goes into the trash can eventually ends up at our landfill. So, we want to save space is the number one commodity out of the landfill, and so the more we can do to work together as an entire community, regardless of age, that’s going to help us in the long run, preserve the lifespan of our landfill for generations to come,” said Davis.

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