Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I am a middle class lady who is in her junior year of college and I chose to conduct a neighborhood recycling pickup with my younger sisters. I live in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Fayetteville is a medium sized town surrounded by a lot of farm land. Plants and animals vary amongst the different Carolina regions. I wanted to start a recycling pickup because I saw a lack of recycling in my area. I wanted to do something to encourage good stewardship of our planet. Thus â€œLake William Recycling Pickupâ€ was created and it was a lot of fun. The first week, I went door to door in my 50+ housing area and explained my recycling idea. To my surprise, a lot of people were receptive thus starting my project. I made flyers and posted them on each door. The posters stated when I would pick up and what I would pick up. For the whole summer before my junior year, my two younger sisters and I went house to house and picked up the recyclables people left on their front porches. I ended up receiving 30 bags of plastic bottles, 20 bags of paper products/newspapers, 5 large boxes of aluminum, and a couple of glass bottles. This pickup greatly benefited my community because it gave my Lake William neighborhood pride in their area and it also encouraged an official recycling program in the greater Fayetteville area. I did not believe that I could even start this project because I received a lot of discouragement from my mother. I did not think a lot of people would support it but I was completely wrong. Instead, I received a lot of support from my neighbors and I also got to get to know a lot of them through the project. On top of that, my city is now saving thousands through their new recycling program. Wow! What a difference one young adult can do.