FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Children on Fort Belvoir received information last week that will last them a lifetime; at least that is the hope.
As part of the recycling center's push to raise awareness for recycling on post, two groups of 3- and 4- year olds toured the posts' recycling center.
"I think the best hope for recycling programs in general is to start when the kids are young before they develop habits that are not consistent with proper recycling," said Chris McQuale,
Professional Environmental Engineer. "We want the kids to be conscious of the environment and the benefits from recycling."
The tours, led by McQuale and Tiffany Paul, Operations Manager in the Waste Management Department, reviewed how the machines in the recycling center work.
McQuale and Paul also asked each group what kinds of material are generally recycled and explained why certain material, such as newspaper, white paper, and cardboard are separated once they arrive at the recycling center.
McQuale said he hopes by making children aware of the benefits of recycling that they will carry those habits into adulthood.
"I'm coming from my own personal experience," said McQuale. "I've been a teacher, I've been a kid and the things I learned when I was young stuck with me. It's harder to change people's habits as they get older."
McQuale also feels it would benefit the children to go to a landfill and see how much land is used just to dispose of the waste.
"As the waste is produced that landfill has to grow," McQuale. "In doing so it takes up more and more of the useable land. New York City sends its trash to Virginia because they've run out of room up there."
Educating children on the benefits of recycling is not the program's only goal. Fred David, Fort Belvoir recycling coordinator, said his ultimate goal is to make all Belvoir residents aware of what the recycling center does.
"We're trying to reach out to the community because a lot of residences on the base don't know what we actually do at the recycling center," said Davis. "So, the first thing is we reach out to the schools and show children the process of recycling and the importance of recycling and all the items we take down here."
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