JMS Kaplan Journal by Megan Burks
March 19, 2008

As students paraded into their second grade classroom wearing green T-shirts and headbands supporting bouncing shamrocks, Brian McCormick contemplated putting on the green slipcover from his classroom couch. He had forgotten to wear the color on a day when its meaning was two-fold: not only was it St. Patrick’s Day at Camino Creek Elementary School in Carlsbad, but his students were about to get a lesson in art and the environment.

Instead of filing into their miniature desks and cracking open a science book, the second graders crowded on the floor around McCormick’s now-bare couch and listened to Kara Hwang, the education director at the Lux Art Institute (http://www.luxartinstitute.org/) in Encinitas.

If you’re not sure what can go into that blue recycling bin, you’re not alone.  Although curbside recycling has been around for decades, it still confuses many San Diego residents, who wonder if they are doing it right.

The confusion is not only about what kinds of things shouldn’t go in the blue bin.  But what are people throwing away that could be recycled instead?

JMS Kaplan Journal  By Josh Babin
March 19, 2008

For most San Diegans, the trashcan is the final destination for their soft drink, but to a determined few, those beverage containers are their paycheck.

Lou, as he’s known in the competitive local recycling community, is one of those determined trash hunters. He makes his primary income by collecting cans, glass bottles and plastic containers that other people toss away. Once he has enough to fill his van, he turns in his haul to a recycling site and pockets the redemption value.

And it’s not just Lou who profits from his loot.