Recycling 'cool' at fair event

Racing against time and recycling knowledge, a cluster of relay teams frantically tossed leaves, plastic bottles and even a clean diaper into plastic bins at the Yuba-Sutter Fair on Friday night.

The Race to Recycle tested residents on what goes where when sorting items into trash, recycling and green-waste containers. Cardboard, magazines and clothing were among the items each participant had to pick from, then run a short distance across the Grandstand Arena, toss the item in its appropriate bin and run back to tag the next teammate.

"I really like recycling so I thought I'd grow up to be one of the racers," said Hailey White, 7.

Not even the aluminum foil or plastic bag could toss her a curve ball. Dust flew from her pink cowgirl boots as she ran across the Grandstand Arena to chuck her designated item in one of the blue, green and gray toters.

"If you do it at school or in homework or at math, you can figure out which one to put it in," Hailey said.

As an administrative assistant for the fair, Annie Hill, 20, was ready to show off how "It's Just Natural" to recycle.

"I got my running shoes on and I've been stretching" she said. "And the fair is all about recycling so I've been studying."

The youngest teams of racers seemed to have the most fun in the educational contest, and they really delighted in the miniature garbage cans they received for participating.

"I think it's cool that you can run and you can save the environment," said Savanna Jackson, 8.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4724 or agebb@appealdemocrat.com.