Earth ambassador DANIELLE HENDRIX ASSOCIATE EDITOR
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ll it took for 14-year-old Jackson Fu to come up with an idea for a school service project was a simple glance at the Union Park playground. The Glenridge Middle School eighth-grader was enjoying some time at the park with his parents in August when he noticed some plastic water bottles and bits of cardboard scattered on the ground. Some simple recyclable items people had failed to properly dispose of suddenly were the inspiration behind a school community project he is required to complete as an IB student. “It was just really obvious,” Jackson says. “People are just throwing away all this plastic, and also when I was seeing stuff, I had my school community project in mind. I thought maybe I could do something about this, because there’s so much that could be recycled. We could help out the ecosystem.” Eighth-grade students in Glenridge’s IB program must decide on a community-service project in order to receive their IB diploma. Many students choose to complete volunteer hours with a charity or other organization of their choice. Jackson, however, thought outside the box. As a scholar athlete, he juggles maintaining a straight-A grade average at school while dedicating a good amount of time to playing with the Orlando City Youth Soccer Club. Free time for him can be scarce. “Jackson doesn’t have a lot of time,” says his mother, Leah Fu. “Many students with the project have to go find hours, and this is a more large-scale project that, instead of putting in hours regularly, he could manage and check in and make a big impact overall.” He and his family make it a point whenever they’re out and about to
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BALDWIN PARK LIVING | MAY 2020
Glenridge Middle eighth-grader Jackson Fu was instrumental in helping to get recycling bins installed in three ROA parks. RECYCLING 101
The recycling bins at High Park, Union Park and Enders Park are meant for plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminum cans. For those who recycle at home, did you know that one non-recyclable item in a recycling bin contaminates the whole batch? Here’s what you can and cannot place in your recycling bin. For more information on what you can and cannot recycle, visit orlando.gov/ trash-recycling.
DO n Cardboard: Flattened boxes n Glass: Bottles and jars; remove lids or caps n Metal: Tin, aluminum, steel and empty aerosol cans n Paper: Newspapers, junk mail, sheets of paper and drink cartons n Plastic: Bottles and containers labeled No. 1 through No. 5. Lids or caps can stay on.
DON’T
Courtesy Kai Fu
Jackson Fu is happy to have played a part in helping the environment around him.
pick up any recyclables they see on the ground and bring them home to place in their own recycling bin. Jackson noticed that although there
were trash cans at the park, there weren’t any recycling bins. “First, there was no option to recycle around here,” Jackson says.
n Aluminum food pans n Food waste n Garbage n Plastic bags n Polyestrene foam cups and containers Source: City of Orlando Solid Waste Division
