Moab Happenings Archive
Return to home

NON-PROFIT HAPPENINGS - September 2009

Once Is Not Enough


Glass lasts a million years in the landfill. The glass deposited at the recycle center gets a second chance to be something!

It wasn’t that long ago when the majority of people hardly ever gave a thought to ending the ‘disposable’ trend. Recycling was not a familiar term and very little information was available for the general population. Now, in schools all across the country, environmental science is taught right alongside life science, physical science, and earth science. When one becomes aware of the unnecessary and often dangerous habit of waste, you realize that it doesn’t make sense to throw away perfectly useful items. This is especially true when throwing items “away” creates a host of landfill-related problems. Many of us prefer to donate items to thrift stores, re-use household items, and recycle potentially ‘new’ raw materials. Thankfully, we are starting to see the bigger picture now. So begins the mantra, “ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH!”

To celebrate and support community-recycling efforts, Canyonlands Film Society, in collaboration with Canyonlands Community Recycling, Paradox School, and Solutions of Moab, will be hosting a grand event and fundraiser, entitled, ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH – A Recycled Event. This family-friendly gathering will be held at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center (the MARC) on Saturday, October 3, 2009. Doors will open at 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, children under 10 free.

Canyonlands Community Recycling has been recycling in Moab since January 1991. This chronically underfunded non-profit works from the heart – they know that to recycle is to create jobs, lower air and water pollution, provide raw material for new items, conserve costly space in the landfill, teach personal responsibility, and show respect for the earth, which provides us with everything we need.

Paradox School got into recycling in a big way in 2003. The students, in partnership with the community, built collection bins and soon began freecycling for the entire town. They need to buy a trailer to transport material to Canyonlands Community Recycling and invest in some new collection bins.


The recycle center ships out approximately 38,000 to 42,000 pounds of cardboard every two to three weeks.

Solutions of Moab is an all-volunteer group that promotes the “respect, rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle” lifestyle through a wide range of hands-on projects that everybody is welcome to join in on. They started Friends of the Parkway with the City of Moab in 2004 and Common Thread, a project linking off-road enthusiasts with hikers to keep land clean and protected during large off-road events. Their favorite activity is removing recycling and litter from the highways, byways, streams, and trails of this gorgeous region. This group operates with minimal funding. For more information see their project page on the website at www.moab-solutions.org.

Canyonlands Film Society is a non-profit entity that not only brings diverse film to town, but supports community events. You can visit them at www.canyonfilm.com

The ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH event will be low-to-no waste, using dishes, silverware, cups and cloth napkins, for example, instead of disposable items. There will be some fascinating film to watch, live music, a silent auction, (chuck full of things you just have to have), a recycled fashion show, and delicious food. This is a great opportunity to have some fun while supporting community-recycling efforts. And remember, recycling is a major reason Moab is such a good-looking community.

Return to Archive Index
return to home
 
Return to home