The Go Green Gang at OSS Camp.
The OSS Joint Solid Waste Management District sponsored three Earth Camps this June in Ottawa, Sandusky and Seneca counties. The half day camps were hosted at Lakeview Park in Port Clinton, Conner Park in Fremont and Meadowbrook Park in Bascom. A total of 167 elementary students participated in the camps learning about recycling, litter prevention and natural resources.
Campers were separated into three groups, Planet Protectors, Go Green Gang and Recycling Rock Stars and each group rotated through stations. Team flags were made and carried with pride to each session during the camp.
Camp activities included Jenga With A Twist, where campers played a modified version of Jenga using color coded blocks representing our natural resources. Recycled crafts allowed campers to make their own homemade crafts from household recyclables found in the recycle bin. Recycled games let the children play traditional games such as checkers from recyclable materials. The children learned the importance of properly disposing of their trash by participating in a litter clean-up. They also challenged one another during a recycling relay race. Campers took home sunglasses made from recycled plastic and received a certificate of achievement.
The guest speakers for the camps included John Logsdon, operations manager for the Port Clinton Landfill, who explained how a landfill is developed and the various layers needed to make a landfill during the Ottawa County Earth Camp. The guest speaker for the Sandusky County Earth Camp was Wood County Park District's Naturalist Program Coordinator Deb Nofzinger. Nofzinger talked about wildlife in our area and the importance of litter prevention. Municipal Public Sector Representative, Anne Gray from Rumpke Recycling Inc., talked to the campers about recycling common materials such as aluminum, cardboard and steel and finished products they can become during the Seneca County Earth Camp.