Trash is teachers' treasure at local recycling center

By Kay Quinn

KSDK -- They say one man's trash is another's treasure, but the St. Louis Teachers' Recycling Center is redefining "trash."

"I'd like to say that trash is one thing and reusable resources are another," said Center Director Susan Blandford.

Blandford started the center more than 20 years ago. At an educators' conference, the class she was planning to attend was full. The reusable resources class was simply a last resort, but it was here that the idea took hold.

"I went in and saw this sea of material and thought, I can't believe that they're throwing that type of material away," Blandford explained.

The Center has a three-part mission: Make art, have fun, save the planet.

They've certainly got the green part down. "We keep about 10,000 pounds every three months out of a landfill," Blandford said.

But they also have a broader mission: to help teachers put creativity and play back into schools.

"It's kind of a hard sell because there's 'No Child Left Behind,' and I understand that philosophy... But I believe play is where learning begins, and no child is left on his or her behind," said Blandford.

Their mission seems to be working.

"What it does for our kids is it gives them an opportunity just to give them a bunch of junk, a lot of recycled materials to enhance their creativity instead of us just telling them what to make," said Lindbergh Schools Early Childhood Educator Lisa Janis.

For everyone at the Recycle Center, it's about reusing more than just coffee cans and crayons.

"The biggest thing, I think, that can be recycled is respect, for each other and for the earth," said Blandford.

Click here for a list of the Center's most-wanted supplies.