AREA CHILDREN READY TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT RECYCLING

Chelsey Simms used to collect aluminum cans and take them to a recycling center just down the street from his home. It was good money.

"But when I moved to Cape Girardeau, they didn't have anything like that," Simms said. "I didn't think they did recycling here at all."

Simms and about 20 other children who live in the southeastern section of Cape Girardeau are taking part in a local League of Women Voters project to spread the word about recycling.

The league fixed a dinner of hot dogs, chips and a variety of desserts for the volunteers, celebrating the judging of a recycling poster contest.

Onica McBride was awarded a third place ribbon for her colorful poster extolling the value of recycling. She volunteered for the project because she thought it would be a worthwhile cause.

"There's a lot of stuff we throw away every day that can be recycled," said McBride. "My family doesn't recycle anything. Now they will."

The poster contest is the second step in the league's plan to increase the percentage of households recycling in the southeastern area of Cape Girardeau. In June pickups, the Cape Girardeau Department of Public Works recorded only 10 percent of the area's residents recycle.

With a $2,500 federal grant made possible through the League of Women Voters Education Fund in Washington, D.C., local members of the organization solicited the services of area young people to spread the word about recycling. To find the kids to convey the message, the league had to look no farther than the Cape Girardeau Civic Center.

"We wanted to recruit kids who lived in the area we were targeting," said Shannon Anders, director of solid and hazardous waste for the state league. "We thought this would be the best place to come to find some kids willing to volunteer."

The grant will be used for the purchase of recycling bins that will be distributed to households in the southeast section of Cape Girardeau in a door-to-door campaign planned for September.

The posters, which advertised messages like "Recycling makes this hip-hop world a cool place to live," and "Why waste good garbage on litter?" will be hung by their creators in places of their choice in the community.

"I'm going to hang mine in my church," said McBride. "There are a lot of people there that don't know about recycling in this town. I think my poster will help."

Glenda Quinn, who is on the Cape Girardeau League of Women Voters Board of Directors, said that although the project is in its infancy, she can already see some of its effects.

"Even here at the Cape Girardeau Civic Center, the kids are looking for bins to drop their soda cans in, instead of throwing them in the garbage," she said. "It's great to see these young people so excited about recycling. Hopefully, they will share their excitement with others, and the idea will catch on."

The next phase of the project is educating the volunteers about the city's recycling services and supplying them with enough information to carry to the streets.

"We're not sure when we'll have the class," said Quinn. "It all depends on when we can get everyone together."

After the young volunteers finished eating Tuesday, they played games to win school supplies and other prizes.

"These kids are great," said Quinn. "They have the energy and the enthusiasm this kind of project calls for. I don't know what we'd do without them."