The county’s recycling district are on a mission to educate.
Employees teach students the value of recycling and protecting the environment. They conduct Earth Day activities for the community and plan special events around recycling liquids and electronics.
As part of their plan, educating adults in the community is just as important as making sure students know the ins and outs of recycling.
Educating the public, including conducting adult classes, is a large part of the mission to serve the public and the district wants to grow their current efforts to make sure more people in the community are reached, Kea Deppe, education and outreach coordinator with the Johnson County Recycling District said.
Part of the reason they have concentrated on adult classes is because the state mandates that they teach community members what to do with hazardous waste, Deppe said.
So, they decided that classes and seminars geared toward adults is the best way to make sure the message reaches the masses, she said.
"We are required to be a source of information," Deppe said. "I am always trying to get the message out there."
The recycling district hosts classes at its center for adults that will teach them how to safely and effectively collect rain water and how to recycle in their homes.
Teaching adults why and how to recycle is important because recycling is constantly changing, she said.
"Recycling is always changing and for the foreseeable future it will always be changing," Deppe said.
Groups also reach out to the recycling center to get classes brought to them. For example, an apartment complex employee wanted the recycling district to teach its residents how to recycle and give tips on keeping the environment clean.
Deppe also conducts classes at the Franklin Active Adult Center. Those classes have activities that reach those members that range from how to make safer, organic cleaners from things they already have at home to the ins and outs of recycling again.
Classes at the adult center have been well received and the senior citizens who make up the membership didn’t always think about what they could recycle, Cathy Bailey, center manager said.
"It helps us in a lot of ways," she said. "It is a societal value, I think."
Now the recycling district is exploring ways they can grow the adult programming they offer, Deppe said.
Videos that show how to recycle may be in the future, as well as more classes that are geared toward adults, she said.
"We have to try and work really hard on the education piece," Deppe said.
