BY KAREN BOSSICK
Hailey’s two community recycling sites can now be located and accessed easier, thanks to three Wood River High School students.
The students—Kim Aranda, Josie Zamora and Vanesa Martinez—are members of Wood River High School’s W.A.T.E.R. (We Appreciate the Earth’s Resources) Club.
The students found out that the fire station site on 3rd Avenue is underused and in need of a sign identifying it as a recycling site. And so they erected a sign indicating its location, as well as one for the other recycling site is at the River Street Park and Ride lot in honor of Earth Day.
They also created bright yellow instructional signing for vinyl decals that they affixed to aluminum sheets and had bolted to the front of recycling dumpsters.
The students spent four months on the project, presenting their artwork to the Hailey City Council in March before reproducing it on vinyl wrap and installing it.
“They hope it will increase local recycling effort and improve residents’ understanding of how to recycle corrugated boxes to avoid contamination in recycling that would make them unrecyclable,” said Hailey supporter Elizabeth Jeffrey.
Corrugated boxes should be flattened, and glass bottles should not be left in plastic bags or boxes, Jeffrey explained. And materials like Styrofoam packing materials, plastic wraps and other recyclable materials and bags should not be included with corrugated cardboard. If they are, a hauler will often dump the entire truck load in the landfill, rather than taking it to recycling.
The W.A.T.E.R. club, which boasts 15 members under the direction of high school advisor Erika Greenberg, has been quite active since its inception in 2008.
Club members spent last year studying how to sustain important pollinators that ultimately maintain all living things. They branded their work with their 5Bee mascot in recognition of the keystone position that pollinating bees and other insects have in our food chain and environmental health.
They partnered with the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and The Hunger Coalition, researching early and late blooming flowers to better support bee population.
Students then grew the appropriate seedlings. They then planted a thousand pollinator-friendly flower starts around various schools and in the Bloom Garden in Quigley Canyon east of Hailey.
The club also distributed pollinator-friendly flower starts to the community.
This past fall they collected the seeds from the flowers, donating them to the Wood River Seed Library.
In addition, they sponsored a showing of Ketchum native Taggart Seigel’s award-winning documentary film “SEED—The Untold Story,” which examines the efforts of people around the world to protect our 12,000-year-old food legacy.
The students held a Reused Runway Fashion Show in December to highlight over-consumerism and the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling.
“This year W.A.T.E.R. Club will have more of a public presence with student artwork being posted on the recycling bins at community drop-off points and in Mountain Rides buses,” said Greenberg. “We learn and grow every year and are excited to have the city’s support to get education out in new ways.”
The students are continually looking for ways to educate the community about human environmental impact, said Greenberg.
“And it can be said that appreciating and recycling materials, which use and contain our earth’s resources, is a basic element in sustaining the health of our planet,” said Jeffrey. “It’s a great group—they’re hard working and high achieving and remarkably fun to spend time with.”