“I want to be recycled.” That’s the theme for America Recycles Day 2014, an annual event sponsored by Keep America Beautiful.
“I want to be recycled.” That’s the theme for America Recycles Day 2014, an annual event sponsored by Keep America Beautiful.
Here on Hawaii Island, the local chapter of Keep Hawaii Beautiful is working with Recycle Hawaii, the statewide recycling organization affiliated with the KAB network, to host a series of educational activities promoting the theme.
This fun and free program is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at The Palace Theater, with a youth program featuring singing, dancing, activities and a short film.
The Studio Shaka Hi Tech Youth Network, an after-school program serving Connections Public Charter School students to develop their skills in the graphic and performing arts, kicks off the event with a lively stage performance.
Next up is the original music of Sahra Indio. Indio, affectionately known as “Auntie Reggae,” will sing songs from the “Auntie Reggae Time CD: Teach the Youth the Truth” album scheduled for release in early 2015.
The action then moves into the lobby where the kids will be treated to inspiring displays including a collection of “haute trash” fashions courtesy of designer Robin Worley and a collection of hats and dolls made by Indio.
Worley also will lead a crafting workshop to help hone the skills of budding designers with a passion for reclaimed materials … in this case, Mylar plastic collected by island students as part of KTA’s Kokua I Na Kula program, and recycled magazines collected by Recycle Hawaii and cut by Hawaii Printing Company. The cut magazine squares will be folded to make cranes as part of the 199,000 Cranes Project, which is sponsored by the Honokaa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple and honors the lives lost in the bombing of Hiroshima.
The youth program ends at 5 p.m. with the screening of the film “Huliau” presented by Kanani Frazier of Knowledge in Motion, a Hawaii-based environmental and social justice educational service provider. Students also will have an opportunity to take the “I Recycle” pledge.
At 6 p.m., the adult program begins with a mini-film festival that includes another screening of “Huliau” and a screening of “Racing to Zero,” a film that documents San Francisco’s effort to become a zero-waste city.
Concluding the event will be a panel discussion about “Hawaii Island’s Zero Waste Potential.”
The panel includes County Councilwoman Margaret Wille, Kristine Kubat of Recycle Hawaii and Dr. Jean-Pierre Michaud, a UH-Hilo professor specializing in biochemistry who formerly worked for the state Department of Health regulating H-Power.