Recycle It: Ways to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in Stillwater | Documentary Idea
by Kayla
(Oklahoma)
Hi, my name is Kayla. I am a multimedia journalism major and I have always been interested in making documentaries, but I live in Oklahoma and there's not a lot of opportunities to do that, so I decided to start small, local and in an area I knew a lot about: Recycling.
I live in a medium-sized city in Oklahoma called Stillwater. A couple of years ago, they implemented curbside recycling and have had great success with it. Before that they had a unmanned and manned drop off centers that collected many more things that more people need to use and be aware of. However, there has been some misconceptions such as whether they really recycle it or if it gets taken to the dump. To clear up this misconception, I will follow some recyclable items from their place at the store to the customer’s house to either the landfill or the recycling center and then to a recycling plant that breaks down the materials to turn them into new materials.
I will also be exploring the idea of other ways to reduce one’s waste besides recycling such as reducing and reusing to save even more energy.
The purpose of the documentary is to let citizens know just how many options they have to reduce, reuse and recycle in Stillwater, whether they have been here for years or the many new comers we have because it’s a college town.
I’m trying to make it more about the story and journey of recycling, instead of overloading it with facts. However, some facts I will include will be comparison between how much we recycle now as opposed to when we first had recycling available and how much trash has been saved from the landfill.
I will show how much people are really throwing away just in one year. I will also demonstrate how it is being recycled. For instance, if everyone recycled just one can then that would be about 47,000 cans. It’s much more than some people realize.
I’m also going to experiment with some stop motion videos including one where its kind of like a flash mob with bottles and cans. The bottles will do a little dance and then go into the recycling bin. If it turns out, it should just be a fun way to break up the facts and interviews.
