By Annie O’Malley //
In my 2018, the film “A Plastic Ocean” was played for my marine biology class taught by Mr. Becker. Later that week, I rewatched the same documentary with my parents as my eyes had been opened to the cold reality of the harm of microplastics and I needed to spread this awareness to my own family. This documentary inspired me to do something in Southbury and make a small step towards prevention of pollution of plastics. My friend Grace Richardson and I planned to host a recycling drive in August at the Audubon Center at the Bent of the River to collect bottles and cans, recycle them, and donate the money we received back to the Audubon. It was incredible to see how much the community cared about recycling and helping out the environment but it was sad to see how few of those who came were around my age. Hoping to raise more awareness, I volunteered to work at the recycling booth at the Southbury Energy Fair and learned that almost everyone didn’t know all the rules of single stream recycling including myself. It’s especially important to realize that contaminated recyclables can spoil an entire batch and all of the plastics will be put into the trash. All of the rules can be found on the Recycling Guidelines Flyer on the Southbury Town website. This month Grace and I held another recycling drive at the Audubon Bent Fest and are in the process of adding up all our donations going to the Audubon.
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The Pawprint 