Bartlett’s Cottage One recycles

Young people from Cottage 1, back row, left to right, include Greg, Joseph, Christopher, Cornelius and Corey. Front row are Josh, Brandon, Tristan and Nathan.

Kaitlin Kennedy, a teacher counselor at Youth Villages’ Bartlett Campus, introduced recycling to Cottage 1 as a way to teach a life skill.

But the youth owned it after that first trip to the Bartlett Recycling Center. The group now visits the center twice a month, and has expanded what they do to the Bartlett Campus.

“They really enjoy it,” said Mary Morris, counselor at Youth Villages’ Bartlett Campus. “As the months have passed, they continue to learn more about recycling and have turned it into their own project.”

The youth conduct campus clean-ups daily and separate the trash for recycling.

They’re planning to start a recycling program for all the cottages on the campus by installing recycling containers at each one.

“It’s great to see how the youth have taken this on and made it into their project,” Morris said.