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San Pedro's Earth Alert Academy Kicks Off Recycling Program |
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 Picture this, a familiar scenario: John plans a dinner party and goes to the market to pick up a 6-pack of diet cola in aluminum cans, a couple plastic bottles of water, and some Styrofoam cups and plates, all carried out in a few plastic bags. After the party, a few of the bags fly away. A few cans get forgotten on the street. A few plates fall from the trashcan.
What’s the big deal? Well, if these items are not recycled it could take hundreds of years for these items to safely breakdown and not have negative effects on our environment.
As part of their preparation for “America Recycles Day” on November 15th, the International Trade Education Program (ITEP) and San Pedro Earth Alert Academy (SPEA) worked with the Cabrillo Aquarium to present an eye-opening demonstration of “Beach Trash” on Thursday, November 5th.
Michael Schaadt and Carl Carranza from the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium demonstrated to almost 200 students from San Pedro High School how trash can invade our environment . Students were shown how trash travelled from the streets of Pasadena to the city gutters and down the storm drains into the Pacific Ocean. Mr Schaadt and Mr Carranza helped students evaluate which items found on the beach were natural and good for the environment, and which items needed to be recycled or thrown away.
 Students also learned how to identify which items are harmful or deadly to marine life and the environment, and how they had the potential of being harmful or deadly to humans.
An interactive timeline of decay activity gave students the opportunity to see how long it takes for items to safely breakdown into environmentally safe components. A normal plastic bag takes 10-20 years on average to totally breakdown. Plastic water bottles require 450 years. Aluminum cans require 200-500 years to fully decay. Styrofoam proved to be the worst of all, as it cannot breakdown on its own.
The Earth Alert Academy is hoping to get students involved in the theme of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” as their Recycling Program gets started for this school year. SPEA is working with one of ITEP’s advisory board businesses, SA Recycling, to collect recyclable items as a fundraiser for the academy.
The Cabrillo Marine Aquarium also offers student community service hours in a six-week training program to become a “Sea Ranger,” in which students learn about local marine life and the environment. For more information, contact Carl Carranza at the Aquarium: 310-548-7563.
Written by Harlene Stanley
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