Proceedings, 1997

Kevin Jaquet makes an emphatic point about protecting the
environment as he gestures to the audience during the prepared
public speaking finals in Municipal Auditorium. Jaquet's thought-
provoking speech was convincing enough to win the event.
Did you know that every
time that one ton of paper is
recycled, 17 tall trees, 7,000
gallons of water, and three cubic
yards of landfill space are saved?
Recycled paper, which is made
by de-inking, shredding, and
repulping used paper, can be
remade into newsprint, card-
board boxes, paper bags, and
other paper products. In
addition, processes for recycling
paper into copying and computer
paper are being developed by
scientists.
Paper can also be used as
animal bedding during cold or
wet months. Because paper can
absorb more than twice as much
moisture as straw, there is less
manure to haul. Livestock stays
cleaner and drier when paper is
used. Because the soy ink that is
used today in printing is non-
toxic, spreading the paper and
the manure on fields together
will not harm the soil quality.
Paper even breaks down well
enough that no-till farmers can
use it in their operations and
spread it on their fields as well.
Several major types of
plastics can now be recycled.
Plastic containers are melted and
n olded to make such plastic
materials as plastic lumber,"
furniture frames, and garbage
cans. The Federal Food and
Drug Administration also
recently gave approval for plastic
soda bottles to be
remanufactured back into soda
bottles. 1 can take the 20-oz.
Mountain Dew bottle that I
drank from this morning to a
recycling plant, and within a
year, you could be drinking from
a bottle that contains some of the
very same plastic. But, can you
believe that the same plastic pop
bottle could also be made into
the back of carpets 7 Image
Industries, a manufacturer of
carpet, can take your soda bottle,
process it into a type of plastic
mesh, and it will support a carpet
that you could be walking on.
Farmers are now beginning
to play a major role in environ-
mental awareness. Perhaps the
1996 Counter Lock TSP Load
commercial best explains the role
of the farmer in his or her
environment. "I'm responsible for
being an active environmental-
ist," the commercial explains,
"not an environmental activist."
Pesticide bottles that many
farmers use can now be recycled
back into new jugs through
programs in most states. These
recycling programs got started in
IT
the late '80s and early '90s and
have continued to grow and
expand across the nation. Most
of the programs got started with
the help of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency
and are now supported by a
corporation or are self-support-
ing. For instance, the program in
Illinois is sponsored in part by
the DuPont Corporation while
the programs in Washington,
Ohio, and Nebraska all support
themselves. These programs
tend to start slowly and grow by
leaps and bounds in the first
three years. The program in
Nebraska saw a 550 percent
increase in the number of bottles
collected from the first year to
the third. Illinois did even better
and saw over a 900 percent
increase. Before recycling,
farmers must pressure rinse or
triple rinse their containers.
Once the containers have passed
the inspection process, they are
M More than 450
million tons of waste
are produced annu-
ally in the united
States. Only one-
third of this amount
is recycled W
chipped and granulated in the
on-site grinder. The chips are
taken to a processing facility
where they are melted into liquid
form, molded into the shape of a
bottle, filled with pesticides and
sold to farmers for the coming
season. These programs are a
prime example of what is known
as "closing the loop" in plastics
recycling, which means using a
product and then using it again.
The recycled plastic can also
be used as fuel in cement kilns or
to develop more experimental
products. As a fuel, the plastic
provides a more efficient source
of heat than coal and helps
conserve natural coal resources.
The results of this program show
that the farmers of the state are
willing to dispose of their
chemical containers safely and
correctly but need an avenue that
is cost effective and reasonable.
Recycling is not all that we
can do to help save our soil and
environment. A new program
called Operation Greenstripe has
been started by the Monsanto
Corporation. The program is
offered through local FFA
chapters, and encourages farmers
to have "buffer strips" along their
creek beds. The strips serve as
filters to trap soul sediment and
agricultural chemicals, keeping
streams clean while also helping
to maintain the integrity of the
stream banks. In addition, the
soil has no opportunity to float
away with the water because it is
held in place by the roots of the
grass.
Lets try again. The place:
Anytown, USA; the date: Nov. 12,
2097. The earth is a beautiful
paradise. Birds chirp and flowers
blossom. This is all happening
because humans became
educated, and they took action to
keep the earth beautiful for future
generations. By becoming
educated and being active
environmentalists, we will be able
to restore the beauty of the earth.
Through environmental aware-
ness, future generations will be as
happy as this generation.
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