The City of Columbia Volunteer Programs will hold its second Recycling Ambassadors training session on Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Volunteers will train Columbia residents on proper recycling procedures. Volunteer Program Specialist, Jody Cook, says the Recycling Ambassadors program aims to create a communication between trained ambassadors and people who don’t recycle.
“We train citizens about the proper recycling and the City of Columbia’s recycling programs, and those trainees in turn go out and educate other people on proper recycling in Columbia,” Cook said.
One of the previous ambassadors, Amy Edger, says that there are plenty of ways to recycle including putting recyclables into blue bags, monitoring surrounding waste situations and collecting food waste.
However, Edger says Americans are so busy with everything right now. So people don’t want to spend their time in recycling.
“We try to help, or we try to help them think of recycling as a positive thing that they can do without putting forth too much effort, but it really helps the Earth a lot,” Edger said.
Cook says that they can always find people willing to volunteer in this program. The first training session in February successfully attracted 25 participants. For the upcoming session, she hopes more people join the recycling team.
The session on Tuesday will last from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the ARC, 1701 W. Ash St.