CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Ruthlawn Elementary School's second-grade students recycle paper, cans, glass bottles and plastic like it's second nature.

"They're going through my trash can," said second-grade teacher Rachel Fisk. "They're like, 'Hey, that's paper.'"

Gallery

[+] Enlarge

1 of 2 Photos

Buy This Photo

More Photos »

Principal Natalie Laliberty said the second-graders' environment-friendly efforts caught fire at home and across the school.

"They started something and the whole school kind of followed suit," Laliberty said. "Parents started bringing in newspaper and aluminum cans."

Fisk and Laliberty have found it difficult to tell the students why they might stop collecting plastics, glass and aluminum next week.

Last month, Norm Steenstra, director of the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority, wrote to mayors across Kanawha County, saying that the agency would suspend collections of plastic, glass and cans for at least one month. Paper still will be collected.

Steenstra cited dramatic changes in the national and global markets for recyclables. He wrote that storage space is very limited at the Slack Street facility and "we are not able to market several items at this time."

He said Tuesday the suspension would affect few Kanawha County schools and the Solid Waste Authority would continue to collect plastics, glass and cans from all schools on its list, which include Capital and George Washington high schools, Piedmont and Overbrook elementary schools and others.

Still, the city of South Charleston picks up the recyclables at Ruthlawn, and will suspend its non-paper collections Friday.

"It's hard to tell 7- and 8-year-olds that sometimes the government and the economy can bind your hands and your hearts," Fisk said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Ruthlawn Elementary School's second-grade students recycle paper, cans, glass bottles and plastic like it's second nature.

"They're going through my trash can," said second-grade teacher Rachel Fisk. "They're like, 'Hey, that's paper.'"

On Tuesday, Fisk asked the class how long it takes for glass to biodegrade in the earth's soil. "Four thousand years," one girl replied.

Principal Natalie Laliberty said the second-graders' environment-friendly efforts caught fire at home and across the school.

"They started something and the whole school kind of followed suit," Laliberty said. "Parents started bringing in newspaper and aluminum cans."

Fisk and Laliberty have found it difficult to tell the students why they might stop collecting plastics, glass and aluminum next week.

Last month, Norm Steenstra, director of the Kanawha County Solid Waste Authority, wrote to mayors across Kanawha County, saying that the agency would suspend collections of plastic, glass and cans for at least one month. Paper still will be collected.

Steenstra cited dramatic changes in the national and global markets for recyclables. He wrote that storage space is very limited at the Slack Street facility and "we are not able to market several items at this time."

He said Tuesday the suspension would affect few Kanawha County schools and the Solid Waste Authority would continue to collect plastics, glass and cans from all schools on its list, which include Capital and George Washington high schools, Piedmont and Overbrook elementary schools and others.

Still, the city of South Charleston picks up the recyclables at Ruthlawn, and will suspend its non-paper collections Friday.

"It's hard to tell 7- and 8-year-olds that sometimes the government and the economy can bind your hands and your hearts," Fisk said.

Last week, her students skipped recess one day and wrote letters to South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens and Gov. Joe Manchin.

"In 30 years when we will only be 38 years old, what will the Earth be like if no one recycles?" one student wrote.

The school's recycling efforts had a health benefit, as well, Laliberty said. Students would often finish the last drop of milk in their plastic bottles, then peel off the label and remove the cap so they could recycle the bottle.

Some students paid for a second bottle of milk so they could recycle even more.

"They were drinking all their milk. Two hundred and fifty bottles of milk a day," Laliberty said. "That's a lot of plastic we were saving from the landfill. ... The first day they didn't recycle, they just dumped all their milk."

Fisk hopes to find a way to recycle her classroom's cans, plastics and glass, but storage space is a problem.

She's been told the school recycles more each week than George Washington.

"I hope that somebody out there has a Plan B," she said.

Steenstra hopes the freeze on collections will not last long.

"It's just a bad time right now and we're trying to figure out how to react," he said. "We're all still trying to figure out what we're going to do."

Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 348-1254.