Date: April 17, 2009

It was a cold, drizzly, and snowy day out in Healy but that didn’t stop us from getting some recycling done! Darcie, Andrea, Kristen and Stephen were all there bright, early and eager to work.

The day started out slowly but we had several recyclers early in the morning and then… the kids came!

The Tri-Valley fifth graders were an integral part of our entire operation that day. Not only did they bring us 1000 pounds of electronic equipment from the school to recycle – they helped us prepare it for shipment. They unloaded the trailer full of equipment – old Macs and CRT monitors mostly – and organized everything nicely on the ground. They all worked great together helping each other lug those heavy monitors over to the pit and not a single one was dropped!

The kids were having a great time – but then things got even better when we started letting them take things apart! Clipping the cables from the devices helps aid in packing them safely and securely, allows the wires to be sorted separately, and is a whole lot of fun. But the best part came when Kristen taught them how to safely remove the stands from the monitors (the little round bases on CRTs that hold them upright) by Godzilla stomping them. They LOVED it!

Kristen also received help from two great girls who assisted in loading the monitor stands into the truck by flinging them like Frisbees before placing them into a big box inside. Of course, this was all done safely and under Kristen’s direct supervision.

The kids were also able to see what computers and monitors look like inside after we took a computer apart to destroy the hard drive. Overall we had a very successful day with 4 pallets of electronics  making their way to Anchorage before being shipped to Total-Reclaim in Seattle, Washington for recycling.

Volunteers: Stephen Price from the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, the Tri-Valley School Fifth Grade Class and their teacher Lori Brewer.

IAGS Staff: Darcie Warden, Andrea Miller, & Kristen Thomas