Moses Lake youth encourages recycling
Chrystal Doucette/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Korissa Dietrich, 18, helped create a two-page spread on recycling for the Columbia Basin Herald.
MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School student Korissa Dietrich cares so much about recycling, she organized a project to tell the community where they can drop off unwanted goods.
Dietrich, 18, helped create a two-page spread for the Columbia Basin Herald as part of her senior project.
The spread included letters from middle school students, recycling facts, a list of Earth friendly events and a list of drop-off sites.
“I wanted to educate the community about recycling,” Dietrich said.
Dietrich said her project idea was inspired by an environmental science course she took at the high school last year.
“It really opened my eyes to the whole world and how we’re making the world sick,” she said.
Dietrich spoke with Columbia Basin Herald Publisher Harlan Beagley about an idea to publish a map pinpointing recycling locations throughout Grant County.
With a map provided by Beagley and help from the Google Maps tool, Dietrich made an original map.
The Herald’s advertising staff used the information to create new and improved maps.
“I had to get everything organized and meet deadlines,” she said. “I felt like a business person.”
Dietrich hopes her spread, published April 14, helped educate the community about products they didn’t know could be recycled.
“You can recycle cellphones,” she said. “I didn’t even know that.”
The facts included in the spread were also interesting to Dietrich.
“Recycling creates 1.1 million jobs,” Dietrich said. “That’s a lot of jobs.”
Dietrich noted recycling means less waste sitting in landfills. In addition, reusing recycled materials uses less energy than creating new products from raw materials, she said.
After high school, Dietrich hopes to attend Big Bend Community College. She plans to continue taking environmental science classes.
Upcoming Earth-friendly events
FRIDAY: A tree-planting event will take place at Larson Heights Elementary School in Moses Lake, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., in recognition of Arbor Day.
SATURDAY: A free compost class is from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., at The Learning Center in Moses Lake.
MAY 2: A city-wide cleanup will take place in Moses Lake. The event starts at 8 a.m., at the Surf’n Slide Water Park.