Carolyn Thompson poses with the prototype recycle bin the Bay Area Recycling Team hopes to spread in local schools and around the area. Actual bins will have a metal base and the two photographs on the side will show local scenery.- World Photo by Lou Sennick

Who doesn’t know about recycling? It’s hard not to in a world that has become increasingly concerned with the environment. But actually doing it on a regular basis is another story.

Rather than let locals become complacent about recycling, a local leadership group is hoping to reinforce the importance of reducing and reusing.

“There was a lot of concern in our group ... that the community needed to be reminded how to recycle,” said Carolyn Thompson, a member of the Ford Institute Leadership program.

The group, self-dubbed Bay Area Recycling Team, plans to put about 50 attractive new recycling bins at area schools, as well as a few public places, so that students will catch the recycling bug. Each bin will feature photos of the area and information about recycling.

“Kids will hopefully go home with the information and the excitement that youth have and engage their parents and families,” Thompson said. “(We want to) change attitudes while they are young.”

Just before the school year begins, the team will place several bins at Marshfield and North Bend high schools, along with Sunset Middle and Millicoma Intermediate schools. Thompson said bins also will be stationed at the Pony Village Mall, Coquille Indian Tribe establishments and possibly the Southern Oregon Regional Airport. She explained that the bins take most recyclables, aside from glass. Janitors will manage collections at the various campuses.

Recycling in Coos County is somewhat low, said Craig Filip, a solid waste reduction analyst for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. He said the county has not met recycling goals — to recycle, compost or reuse 30 percent of solid waste generated in the area — for the past several years. He attributed some of the shortfall to the local economy, but is unable to pinpoint an exact cause.

The 18 leadership team members, who hail from Coos Bay, North Bend and Charleston, are fundraising to purchase the bins. They are about $700 from their $10,000 goal, Thompson said. The group received a $5,000 grant from the Ford Family Foundation for the effort, which it must match.  The majority of the fundraising is through personal donations and bin sponsorships. Each bin costs $150, Thompson said, and several have been sponsored by local businesses, as well as the South Coast Development Council.

“We’ve really had to hit the streets for bin sponsorships,” Thompson said. “The group has done really well.”

A prototype of the bin, which is currently stationed at an accounting office in Coos Bay, where Thompson works, is sky blue with a photo of an Alaskan mountain range. A member of the design team that created the corrugated plastic bins, Thompson said her teammates didn’t want them to look like trash cans.

“We don’t want garbage in there,” Thompson said. “But that’s kind of what we are trying to redefine, isn’t it?”

She said she’s especially proud of the group’s logo, designed by team member Sam Schwartz, which shows a bicycle with wheels formed to look like the recycling symbol. It states simply “Recycle. Get on the Cycle.” Thompson said there is an actual recycle cycle that will be featured at area events.

“Every time you see it, you’ll think recycling, recycling, recycling,” Thompson said.

Team member Vicki Wiese, who will install the bins at schools in September, said she believes the project is a wonderful opportunity for the community. She noted that the names of sponsoring businesses and agencies will be placed on individual bins.

“We have some of the lowest recycling rates in the state, our county does. And hopefully this will help correct that,” Wiese said. “We’re hoping (children) will learn it in school and then take it home and teach their families.”  

 While the project is to be completed within the year, Thompson said she and her teammates hope and believe their efforts will have an impact on Coos County residents for years to come.

“I think we’ll have planted a seed in the community that will continue to grow,” Thompson said.