When Sarah B. arrives to work, she puts on a hard hat, safety goggles, work boots and gloves. Her job is physically demanding. She lifts, bends, sweeps, throws and cuts. She works outside in the elements, rain or shine. It’s a dirty job-one she wouldn’t have any other way.
Sarah works for the Allan Company Santa Monica Recycling Center. On most days, she organizes plastic, glass and aluminum into large bins. On busy days, she sorts items numbering into the thousands. Not bad for a center that recycles 2,500 tons of material a month.
In a short time of working at the center, Sarah has shown the type of dedication and hard work that has earned her the respect of her coworkers and supervisors.
“We couldn’t be happier with her,” said Adam Holt, Manager of the Allan Company Santa Monica Recycling Center. “She has a lot of enthusiasm. To do this job, you have to be a certain type of person. There’s got to be a little extra there, you really have to care coming into this job.”
Sarah came to the Best Buddies California Jobs program looking for a role that would help the environment. She requested a position in recycling and, fortunately, Best Buddies and the Allen Company Santa Monica Recycling Center were able to make it happen.
“I wanted to help the environment for a long time,” Sarah said. “We are at a time and point where we need to take responsibility… The state of our planet is at stake.”
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| Sarah hard at work at the Recycling Plant |
Sarah’s new job allows her to earn a paycheck, and reap the benefits of knowing she is doing something worthwhile.
“I want to help out any way I can. I like the sense of accomplishment of doing something very useful,” Sarah said.
Sarah is aided in her job with the help of a Best Buddies Employment Consultant. The service, which is free to employers, staffs a consultant to help with assigned work duties. Over time, the consultant fades back as the employee becomes proficient with his or her tasks.
“The experience has been great on every level,” Holt said.
While Sarah is still very new to the role, she has already left a strong impression.
“From minute one, Sarah dove into her work. She’s doing a great job. She’s careful and does not make many errors.”
In her time at the recycling center, Sarah has picked up a few pointers that people should know when they are sorting their recyclables.
First, she mentions, please wash the food out of your recycled plastic, glass and aluminum containers. Adam Holt added there can be food residue on the container; it does not have to be completely clean, just give it a nice rinse.
If it says it is biodegradable then do not try and recycle it, Sarah said. Biodegradable bags become a contaminant in the stream and are difficult for people on the line to sort out.
No Styrofoam! Please do not try to recycle it.
Contrary to popular belief, pizza boxes are perfectly ok to recycle. Just remove the pizza. It’s ok if there’s grease on the box.
Please leave caps on plastic containers for public health reasons. The caps are recyclable!
Look for the universal recyclable symbol on the bottom of plastic containers. Recyclable products contain a number between 1-7. 95 percent of items the center receives are numbered between one and two.
Holt recommends that when it comes to plastic, when in doubt, recycle it. In the worst case scenario, they will be able to sort it out.
Sarah asks for people to remember that someone has to sort the recyclables, so please take care when you organize them. She adds that things like batteries and electronic waste should not be mixed in with your normal household recyclables.
“Use common sense when recycling,” she said.
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