Last month, kids from all over our area went to the Bentonville Square’s First Friday event. The theme of the event was “Growing Greener,” and while they had fun, kids learned a little about recycling and protecting the earth. From bottles made from bicycle tires, to a crawl-through maze inside a dumpster, these recycling kids were thinking green and having a blast.
A company called Unilever got the party started. Unilever wants to spread the word about recycling plastic and growing a greener earth. At the “Growing Greener” event, they had a giant display wall with empty plastic bottles attached to it. They encouraged kids to pull a bottle off the wall and throw it into a giant recycling bin. They also had fun ocean animals to color, and gave away plantable seed paper discs.
According to Unilever, every minute the equivalent of one trash truck of plastic leaks into streams and rivers and eventually ends up in the ocean. About 100 million marine animals die each year because of discarded plastic. But only 9% of plastic is recycled. Unilever has promised that by the year 2025, 100% of their plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
Also at the event, Whiteline Waste had a Speleo Cave that was entirely built from recycled materials, inside a dumpster. Kids had a blast exploring the dumpster cave (don’t worry, there was no trash inside!)
And here’s the good news! Every kid we talked to at the event already recycles at home and knows that recycling is good for the earth. Way to go kids!!
These kids also had a blast during their recycling adventure!
“Recycling is important because you can use the trash to make new things.”
— Ollie D., 9, Bentonville