‘Don’t Litter, Don’t Pollute’

Is Among Recycle Poster Messages

By Kendra Bobowick

“If you do not recycle the earth will be a big smelly garbage pile. Please recycle,” asks the crayon and ink-drawn statement on student Shauna Rose Tucker’s recycling poster contest entry.

Her crayon-written message hung with other contest entries clipped with clothes pins and strung between chairs facing the meeting room at Newtown Municipal Center on April 5. Contest winners, parents, and town officials applauded the students’ efforts and message to keep a clean Earth. Minutes before the Board of Selectmen’s meeting began that evening, a room full of young students and families earned their moment of recognition for their participation.

The Third Annual Recycling Poster Contest for Earth Day 2010 challenged students with the theme “Recycling, the Earth, and You.”

One poster after another showed marker and ink oceans, people, animals, trees and the Earth with various degrees of waste, trash or pollution infringing on the health of the planet and its inhabitants.

“Don’t litter. Don’t pollute. Don’t cut down trees.” another poster insisted.

From third grader Savannah LeFerriere came the message, “Recycling makes the earth smile.” Another grade 3 student, Jenna Lavelle, stated, “The earth gives us so much, we should give back.”

From one end of the string of posters to the other came more messages: “If we recycle the water will not get polluted and our land will not be full of trash,” wrote Vanessa Tucker, grade 4.

Michael Murphy insisted, “Don’t cut down trees and we’ll live in a better place.”

Matty Murphy said, “Our earth is being covered with garbage and it’s in the ocean … reduce, reuse, recycle.”