Reader's Digest recently named Buffalo one of the cleanest cities in America. And despite that distinction, there is always room for improvement. That's where Mayor Brown's Summer Youth Employment Program has collaborated with the Division of Youth Services, Department of Public Works, the Buffalo Employment and Training Center, and the Block Clubs and Neighborhood Associations, to select 100 youth participants to comprise the city's Youth Green Team.
The Team will be instructed on proper recycling procedures and techniques to be spread to their own communities in an effort to encourage sustainability in our city at a grassroots level.
By Earth Day 2010, the Green Team hopes to see a 3% increase in recycling within the city of Buffalo, which would save the city $200,000 in garbage handling costs, increase jobs (since recycling processing creates more jobs than garbage landfills), and improve our ecosystem. All in all, it translates to a better quality of life in Buffalo. Could you imagine if they exceed their goal?
The Buffalo Bisons are also helping to raise recycling awareness, and their 1:05 July 30th game at Coca-Cola Field has been dubbed "Recycling Day." Try-It Distributing and Anheuser-Busch Recycling have donated 70 recycling bins to Coca-Cola Field.
Since 2005, the Mayor's Summer Youth Program has seen a 233% increase in participation, growing from 1,200 participants in 2005, to more than 4,000 in 2009.
(16-year-old Aujenae Donalson is the winner of the Conservation Poster Contest. She
is a student at Buffalo's Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts.)
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The Team will be instructed on proper recycling procedures and techniques to be spread to their own communities in an effort to encourage sustainability in our city at a grassroots level.
By Earth Day 2010, the Green Team hopes to see a 3% increase in recycling within the city of Buffalo, which would save the city $200,000 in garbage handling costs, increase jobs (since recycling processing creates more jobs than garbage landfills), and improve our ecosystem. All in all, it translates to a better quality of life in Buffalo. Could you imagine if they exceed their goal?
The Buffalo Bisons are also helping to raise recycling awareness, and their 1:05 July 30th game at Coca-Cola Field has been dubbed "Recycling Day." Try-It Distributing and Anheuser-Busch Recycling have donated 70 recycling bins to Coca-Cola Field.
Since 2005, the Mayor's Summer Youth Program has seen a 233% increase in participation, growing from 1,200 participants in 2005, to more than 4,000 in 2009.
(16-year-old Aujenae Donalson is the winner of the Conservation Poster Contest. She
is a student at Buffalo's Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts.)
One way to really show that you are serious about recycling would be to fold those savings back into the structure of the garbage fees and let people know it.
If we save X dollars you will all see your garbage fees decrease by 50 cents a buck. No one is expecting to remove the fees but at least show that the government cares about its residents. Otherwise... why should they help you save money if you are just going to eventually increase our fees anyhow. At least that is what many people will think.
While a fully agree that cost-based policies are the most effective way to change the way people consume and waste, I don't think there is anything wrong with encouraging public outreach and youth based activities to address recycling.